Extermination Proclamtion
by AlphaTheGriffin17
Summary: The Daleks are on the attack. Sonic has been gravely injured. Only his friends, with the Chosen Ones, can stop them. But even together, do they have any chance in fighting in fighting the Devil in Dalek form? LINKED! On hiatus.
1. The Invasion

Here it is! My big linked story, the one most of my little ones have been leading up to. Expect action and all that jazz. HERE WE GO!

**The Invasion**

It started out as a normal day for Soleanna, the city of water. The sun shone brightly as it rose up from the ocean, people were rising form their beds and the gondola rowers were going about their work, acting as ferries around the canals. It was a beautiful day, as it usually was, the sunlight sparkling as it hit the water, people smiling and waving to each other and the soldiers patrolling the streets, keeping peace and security. It looked like it was going to be perfect and it was.

Until they came. They started off small, but soon, fifty of their ships filled the skies, so large they blocked out the sun**.** Each one was capable of holding two thousand of them, making their numbers total one hundred thousand. People were stopping to stare one moment, the next moment they were running for their lives as they were ruthlessly gunned down by this new enemy, exterminated on sight.

They let no one escape them, no mercy was shown. Their glowing blue eyes swept this way and that, followed closely by their deadly weapons, lighting up people's skeletons as their nervous systems were fried. Sonic and his friends tried to fight them, but they were forced to fall back, though none of them were killed. They took the palace and the entire city within minutes, the whole place was burning. And above the death, the destruction and the carnage, one word rose up above it all, piercing cries of the same word, chanted by the enemy who did it:

**"EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE!"**

**

* * *

**After the main attack, patrols were moving through the streets in strict formation. Daleks were blasting down doors, taking the survivors prisoner and killing anyone who resisted them. They were harsh, cruel and made no exceptions. The only time they stopped was to allow passage to another Dalek.

His casing was gunmetal black, except for the rectangular slats in the middle and the hemispheres on the bottom section. He gave no concern for any living thing, Dalek or human. He looked down on them all. His only master was the head of the Supreme Council and the Emperor. Some called him the Devil in Dalek form. He was the Dalek Inquisitor General, better known as Dalek X.

The plan was finally set in motion. They had been in hiding for a very long time, too long. They had grown stronger and now they were on the move and he was leading them, as he should, in the name of Skaro and the Emperor.

The Doctor had been a fool, leaving him alive in the wreck of the Lodestar Space Station. His distress signal had been received by a scout craft, sent to the wreck to find him, breaking through the radiation quarantine and finding him in his mutant form, living off the radiation that bathed the wreck. They had then slipped through a small crack in the Archeon Threshold and into this dimension.

They had hidden in the mountains, using the resources they had bought and those they could gather, to build the army now in control of the city. Resistance had crumbled, the people here had never stood a chance against them. Not even the fabled Sonic the Hedgehog had been able to stop them.

The Inquisitor General had gathered as much information on the hero as he could, to see what he would be up against. He had saved the world many times, was able to run at high speeds and could be arrogant and over-confident. He himself had fired a shot at him during the battle. The shot had grazed him on the leg, enough to cause a female pink hedgehog to run in and carry him away.

Emotion. It was one of the things that made other races inferior and why the Daleks would be supreme in all things. But it was time to get to business. He turned to see another Dalek, the leader of Attack Squad Alpha 2, according to his identity tag under his eye. He appeared to shrink in the presence of his superior. As he should.

"**REPORT!" **barked Dalek X, getting straight to the point.

**"ALL RESISTANCE HAS CEASED,"** he reported quickly. **"NINETY PERCENT OF THE POPULATION HAVE BEEN EXTERMINATED. TEN PERCENT HAVE BEEN TAKEN PRISONER, AS YOU ORDERED."**

**"SONIC THE HEDGEHOG?"**

**"IS IN FULL RETREAT. WE HAVE CAPTURED ONE OF HIS COMPANIONS FOR USE AS A HOSTAGE."** He moved to reveal two Assault Daleks, with claws rather than manipulators, holding a young rabbit, with a creature they referred to as a Chao.

"Please..." Her small voice was full of fear. "Please s-s-sir... don't hurt me... I-"

**"SILENCE!"** The order stopped her pathetic begging at once, and she shivered and began to cry. **"TAKE HER TO THE _EXTERMINATOR II_. I WILL DEAL WITH HER THERE,"** he ordered her guards.

**"WE OBEY!"** they replied in unison and glided away, the sobs of their captive following. Pointless noise, thought Dalek X and returned to the commander.

**"WHAT OF THE PALACE?"**

**"THE GUARDS HAVE BEEN EXTERMINATED AND THE QUEEN HAS BEEN CAPTURED. SHE NOW AWAITS FOR YOUR JUDGMENT."**

**"EXCELLENT!"** proclaimed Dalek X**. "I WILL PROCEED TO THE PALACE. RETURN TO YOUR DUTIES!"**

**"I OBEY!"** replied the commander and turned away, as Dalek X was flanked by his Elite Guard, Daleks with black domes and additional weaponry for maximum battle potential. They only guarded the most important Dalek officials, including the Emperor and did not hesitate to perform this task with extreme efficiency.

They flew alongside Dalek X as he activated their gravity repulsion machines, underneath their motive power systems**. **To the palace they went to show the world the might of the Daleks and this time, they would prevail.

* * *

A little taster of what's to come. I hope you'll like it, I promise it shall be epic in epic proportions. R&R please.


	2. Setting An Example

Expect extermination and death in the content below. ENJOY MY PEOPLE! SEE WHAT I GIVE YOU!

**Setting An Example**

Amy Rose was worried. Worried and scared, more than she had in a long time. She had been fighting for her life and now, Sonic the Hedgehog, her love, her life, her whole world, was lying before her, wounded, even perhaps dying**.**

She remembered the Dalek that she and Sonic had fought, the day he had confessed his love for her. They wouldn't have been able to kill it without Li'thcka's help. That was just one. Now there were thousands of them and the situation seemed pretty hopeless and grim**.**

They had all retreated to Blaze's castle, to regroup and tend to those who had been wounded. Shadow was leaning against a wall, thinking, though she couldn't tell with him. Rouge and Omega were in heated discussion with one another and standing close to Shadow. Tails was embracing Cosmo, stroking her hair and letting her cry into his shoulder. The Seedrain wasn't big on violence and Cream had been captured by the Daleks, so Amy didn't blame her. Knuckles was pacing while Shade watched him and Blaze sat on her throne, her head in her hands, whilst Silver knelt next to her.

"I can't believe this," Blaze said at last, looking up, her eyes red and puffy. "How could anything like them be so... so..."

"Evil," Amy finished. "Believe me, they are. I should know."

"Omega." The robot swung round to face the princess. "What would you say our chances of fighting them are?"

"CHANCES OF DEFEATING ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND STRONG DALEK ARMY, BASED ON COMBAT STATISTICS AND CURRENT CONDITIONS: ONE IN SIXTY-THREE MILLION. ROUNDED OFF," replied the E-series robot, in his metallic, emotionless voice.

"Well, that's _real _encouraging," Rouge said sarcastically, rolling her eyes.

"I WAS ASKED TO DELIVER THE ODDS, ROUGE," answered Omega. "I DID NOT SAY THEY WOULD BE GOOD."

"But Cream's out there!" yelled Tails. "She's been taken prisoner! We can't just sit by and do nothing!" Amy sighed, looked at Sonic, the faced the twin-tailed fox with a somber expression.

"Tails," she started, her voice gentle and soft. "I want to save Cream as much as you do, but you saw what the Daleks can do. Nothing we threw at them worked. Unless we figure out some way of fighting them, there's nothing we can do. We could all be killed... or worse."

The boy looked like he was about to argue, but he let it pass. His ears dropped, as did his expression and he went back to Cosmo. There was a knock at the door.

"Enter," called Blaze. The doors opened and in came Bonnie, Blaze's personal servant and good friend. She bowed to her and she looked frantic.

"Princess, I think you need to see this. All of you," she added. She turned on the TV in the throne room and the wide form of a Dalek filled the screen.

* * *

Humans called the palace of Soleanna beautiful, a marvel of architecture and engineering. Daleks, however, had no concept of beauty, the Inquisitor General even less so. To him, it was illogical, poorly designed and inefficient.

Dalek X glided up the stairs to the throne room. Humans were here, their hands on their heads. Some were weeping, some showed no expression. Members of Attack Squad Beta-4 were present, their eye-stalks sweeping around the room, watching for any signs of resistance. The only human not on the floor was sitting in her throne, her steely gaze fixed on Dalek X.

He had researched her, now she was his prisoner. Queen Elise the Third of Soleanna. She wore an elegant gown, made from expensive silks and swan feathers, a small, jewel encrusted tiara was placed on her head and her short, brown hair shone with the light. Humans would consider this a stunning image and be captivated by her beauty and royalty. Dalek X, however, paid no attention to it.

He swept past the prisoners and their guards, his vision focused on the queen.

**"YOU ARE ELISE III, QUEEN OF SOLEANNA?"**

"I am," she answered, without a trace of fear.

**"I AM DALEK X, INQUISITOR GENERAL OF THE DALEKS."**

"Why did you attack my city?" she asked fiercly. "I demand you tell why-"

**"SCILENCE!"** Dalek X barked. **"YOU CANNOT DEMAND ANYTHING FROM US. DALEKS ARE INFERIOR TO NO BEING."**

"Then why do you keep me alive? It's obvious you mean to kill me, why haven't you done it?"

Dalek X paused for a while, thinking about the appropriate answer. He then replied:

**"YOU WILL SOON SEE."** He then looked at the group of Dalek technicians, setting up a broadcasting machine, with visiual receiver and transmitter.** "ARE WE READY TO SEND OUR MESSAGE?"**

**"YES, INQUISITOR GENERAL!"**

**"THEN BEGIN!"** He turned to the screen and fixed his eye on the blank image.

**"TRANSMITTING IN THREE RELS... TWO... ONE..."**

**"ATTENTION, HUMANS AND MOBIANS ALIKE..."

* * *

**

The image was of a Dalek, but this one had a different casing to the others and was obviously some kind of official. He was at the beginning of a speech when they turned on.

**"... I AM THE INQUISITOR GENERAL OF THE DALEKS, DALEK X. BY NOW, YOU WILL KNOW THAT WE HAVE ATTACKED THE CITY OF SOLEANNA. ALL CITIZENS HAVE BEEN EITHER EXTERMINATED OR ARE IN DALEK CUSTODY. RESISTANCE IS FUTILE. SOON, WE WILL BRING OURSELVES DOWN UPON ALL CITIES AND LANDMASSES ON THIS PLANET. NOW, AS AN EXAMPLE OF WHAT HAPPENS TO THOSE WHO RESIST WILL BE DEMONSTRATED."**

He spun round to face something off screen. The camera moved to show it and every one in the room drew breath, as Elise III was pushed from her throne. She stood, tall and proud, staring defiantly at her fate.

"We are better than you. Just remember that." She was now speaking to all those who were watching. "We are better than them." Dalek X said nothing. A small whirring noise was heard and one word rung out.

**"EXTERMINATE!"** The beam hit the queen, her skeleton lit up by the intensity. She gritted her teeth and refused to scream, her eyes remaining fixed on her killer. Now, they saw nothing. In what felt like slow motion, her body fell and hit the marble floor. Queen Elise III was dead.

**"NOW, ALL YOU ARE LEFT WITH IS FEAR. THE DALEKS ARE COMING. RESISTANCE IS FUTILE. THE UNLIKE WILL BE ENSLAVED OR DESTROYED. YOUR CITIES RAZED TO THE GROUND. YOUR LEADERS CRUSHED. YOUR TECHNOLOGY TAKEN FOR THE GREATER DALEK CAUSE. YOUR CHILDREN WILL KNOW ONLY DALEK RULE. THE DALEKS WILL BE SUPREME! CEASE TRANSMISSION!"** With that, the image flickered off.

No one said a word. That message said everything for them. Knuckles was looking at the ground, his fists clenched. Then, without warning, he gave a scream of fury and threw his fist at the wall of the room, cracking it and sending an echoing boom throughout the hall.

"Enough is enough!" he shouted, his voice echoing throughout the cavernous room. "I don't care if we don't have a way of fighting them! We are going to find a way and we are going to hit them hard!"

"Calm down, Knuckles," Shade told him, putting an arm on his shoulder

The sound of breaking glass seemed to have been waiting for the right cue. They all looked to see a small, hovering device, about the size of a football, hover into the room with them. They all knew it was a device that Eggman used to communicate with his enemies. Sure enough, a screen popped down and the evil genius's absurdly mustached face appeared.

"You saw it, didn't you?" They didn't need to ask what he meant and when no one said anything, Eggman nodded. "Me too. We must see that her sacrifice is not in vain. We need to unite against them. Follow this robot's coordinates to my mountain base and meet me there. Tails should be able to use them."

"Hold on, just wait a minute." The speaker was Amy, who had her arms folded and her expression cynical. "Every time we team up with you, Eggman, you always say you'll help us, then you go right back to being evil again. How do we know we can trust you?"

"Because he's taking commands from a different authority," another voice said, younger, more like a teenager's.

"Wait a minute," Silver muttered. "I know that voice..."

"Thanks Robotnick, I'll take it from here," it said again and a young boy's face replaced it. "Hello, surprise, boo, etc."

"It's you!" Silver yelled and pointed. "You're the guy I met in the park, Dan!"

"Silver!" The boy was grinning and gave a small wave. "Hello, how's life treating you? No never mind, we'll catch up later. You all need to get over here right now."

"So, how do you know you can trust Eggman,_ Dan?"_ Knuckles asked suspiciously.

"Simple answer: I don't. I've simply told him that if he does try anything, then he will suffer... severe consequences," he answered, with a smile.

"Hey... can't I have a... say in this?" came a weak voice from behind them and they all turned to see Sonic, getting slowly to his feet, trying to give his little cocky smile. Amy immediately ran up and enveloped him in a bear hug and smothered him with kisses.

"SONIC! I though you were gonna die and I'd never see you again!" she cried and resumed kissing.

"Alright Amy, I'm fi-" He stopped and clutched his leg in pain, his face was covered in sweat and he looked like he was moving a mountain just to keep himself standing.

"Sonic," Amy's voice was filled with worry. "You should rest, you're really hurt."

"It's nothing... really..." he groaned, trying to sound confident, but he grimaced again from the pain.

"Let me see that," Dan requested, the concern evident in his voice. The robot zoomed up to Sonic and the screen moved up and down his leg.

"It doesn't look to bad, but I can't be sure from here," he analysed. The screen looked at Amy. "Bring him to the base and we'll see if we can treat him."

"Really?" Amy asked. "You can do that? I don't want false hope," she added seriously.

"Amy, trust me, if it were worse, he'd already be dead," he replied sincerly. "I promise, we can help him."

Amy looked back and saw honesty and trust in his eyes. She looked back at Sonic, who had fallen back to the floor, as he did not have the strength to stand. Her mind was made up.

"Alright, we'll come. If it helps Sonic, we'll come." She turned to see Shadow open his mouth to say something, but she stopped that. "Shadow, we're going and that's that," she told him firmly.

The black and red hedgehog shook his head, smiling slightly. "No stopping you, is there?"

The message bot turned to face Blaze, and Dan inclined his head to her, which she graciously returned.

"Your Highness," he said politely. "What is your opinion on this? Will you come?"

Blaze seemed to consider. She was the royalty here and therefore, her decision would count for all of them. She was probably, the wisest and most sensible out of all of them. It's why she was a princess and why she would, one day, make a great queen.

"Very well. If you have a way of fighting them, we will come," she replied.

"You're right Knuckles, enough is enough." The screen looked at them all. "The Daleks caused much pain and suffering where I come from. I won't have it here. We will fight them and we're going to kick them out of here. Because I promise you, this is the end for them. The Final End."

* * *

Hope you liked this. R&R please.


	3. The Chosen Ones

Let's form a rebel alliance. Off we go!

Taser: Will I finally be in this one?

Shut up and sit down.

Taser: Tell me I'm in it!

Glacier: Cool it! *freezes Taser*

Now then... on with the show!

**The Chosen Ones **

"Here we are then," Blaze announced to the group, standing in front of the large metal doors beneath the billowing volcano, Eggman's logo emblazoned on it. "If anyone wants to turn back, now is the time."

No one did. They all stayed exactly where they were. They were all were prepared to fight back against the inhumane scourge that was blighting their planet, even if it cost them their lives. Blaze looked up and walked forward. Immediately, two robot sentries jumped down and landed in front of her. She didn't flinch as they aimed their guns at her.

"STATE YOUR PURPOSE," ordered one of the sentries.

"Princess Blaze and company, here at the request of Doctor Ivo "Eggman" Robotnick," she answered, without hesitation. The robots clicked and put away their armaments and bowed.

"APOLOGIES, YOUR HIGHNESS. WE WERE ORDERED TO QUESTION ALL THOSE WHO APPROACH. WE WILL TAKE YOU TO THE DOCTOR. FOLLOW US."

The doors moved aside with a loud, metallic groan, like a bank manager facing a budget cut. The two robots moved in perfect lockstep with each other as they marched inside, the group of Mobians following behind them. Inside was a structure of cold, hard steel, synthesized with the natural rock of the volcano. Large turbines were submerged in the molten rock that flooded the most of the internal area. Luckily for them though, this part was protected by heat proof transparent steel and only accessible by maintenance robots.

"Why a volcano?" Silver wondered, as he looked outside at the large cavern. "Isn't it a little risky in the way of eruption?"

"MOLTEN ROCK PROVIDES AN EXCELLENT SOURCE OF THERMAL AND KINETIC ENERGY FROM THE LAVA FLOWS," stated Omega in a matter of fact tone of voice. "THE RISK IS WORTH IT."

They past the next observation port, which showed a manufacturing plant. Robotic arms sparked and moved in a constant pattern, as large machines churned out robots by the hundreds. These completed automatons marched away in large platoons to a parade ground, where they stood as silent and as still as statues, awaiting commands from their creator. To Silver, it looked like they had more than a chance of fighting back.

As they neared the last door, at the end of the hexagonal corridor, the sentries halted and turned to the group.

"PLEASE EXCUSE US, YOUR HIGHNESS," one of them said. "WE HAVE TO RETURN TO OUR POSTS."

"Carry on," she told them and they clunked off back down the corridor. A small screen on a robotic arm descended from the ceiling and Eggman's face flickered on to it, a wide grin on his face as he saw them.

"Good, good, you're here!" He sounded genuinely pleased to see them. "I thought maybe the worst had happened. Quickly, inside! We have much to discuss."

The door opened in the middle as a small hole and widened outwards, giving them access. More heavily armed androids flanked the entrance either side of them, their horizontal slit eyes watching their progress, missile launchers trained on them.

"Hey!" Rouge yelled, shoving one away. "Point that pee-shooter someplace else."

"Now, now Rouge. You know the need for security in these dark times is a must," Eggman assured, coming down to meet them. "You can't be too careful."

"Indeed, Doctor." Blaze walked forward and looked at him. "It's good to know you're on our side, even though you _did_ attack my palace," she pointed out with emphasis.

"I think that we can put all that behind us and unite in the face of this new enemy," Eggman said quickly, a smile worming it's way onto his face.

"How much dignity did you lose to say that," a new voice asked, a teasing, youthful voice and they all looked to see an ice-blue cat walk into the room, a friendly smile on her face and a spring in her step.

"Glacier!" Rouge exclaimed in surprise. "What are doing here?"

"Hey Red!" Glacier replied cheerily. "How ya doing? Well, we were bought here by some friends, so we can help you guys!"

"We?" Shadow asked skeptically, obviously not trusting her. Or just annoyed at her positive personality.

"Oh yeah." She then called out behind her, "Keep up boys! Come here and meet our new friends!" Two hedgehogs soon appeared behind her and stood close by.

One had a demeanor a bit like Shadow's. He had dark, yellow fur, swept back quills almost like Sonic's, but with a few sticking up and green eyes, which swept over the Blaze and her party, taking them in, assessing them. He also wore a black, leather jacket, red sneakers and a lightning bolt was emblazoned on his chest. With all this and the fact he was standing with his arms folded, anyone could see he was trying to look cool. And it worked.

The other hedgehog was far different, the fact being he was more polite and friendly. His fur was a light grey and his eyes were hazel. His quills were a little smaller than the first's, but they were neater and looked like they were combed back. He also wore a brown blazer with a pocket watch hanging from his top pocket and pointed black shoes. Everything about him suggested a sense of class and it showed too. When he spoke, it was sophisticated and had bit of a British accent.

"Well, it's a pleasure to meet you all," he said in a friendly way. "My name is Tornado. Tornado the Hedgehog." He then bowed and shook hands with all of them in turn.

The other simply nodded and muttered: "Taser."

"Don't mind him," Glacier assured them, rolling her eyes at him, "he's like that with most people."

"Sonic the Hedgehog," Tornado's voice said as he came to the blue Mobian, "such an honor to me- Good Lord, he's injured!" His attention turned to Sonic's limping and bent to examine it. "It doesn't look too bad, but we need to check this with an expert. Clanker!"

A robot walked forwards, though not of any Eggman design. He too bent down to look at it. A red beam shone from the black slit that was his eye and it moved up and down the red inflaming that had ruptured on Sonic's lower leg. He stood back up and spoke in a metallic voice.

**"Mostly, neurological shock has been sustained from a small dose of neutronic radiation. He will recover shortly, as long as he doesn't put too much pressure on it," **Clanker diagnosed.

"He'll be okay?" Amy asked, as if she hardly dared to believe it. She then wrapped Sonic in a bear hug. "I knew you'd be okay!"

"It's gonna take a lot more than some pepper pot to keep me down Amy," he said weakly. "Thanks," he said to Clanker, who nodded and then yelled:

**"You can all come out now!" **Beings began to emerge from different parts of the room. Beings most of them recognized instantly**.**

"Dan!" Silver called as the boy descended the stairs to them.

"Hey Li'thicka!" Amy greeted the hybrid.

"Ko'skarr! Lu'saa!" Shadow's look of surprise at the Xenomorphs was evident.

"Well, well, if it isn't Nightshade," Rouge noticed, the T-X waving and smiling as she walked forward.

"Wolf! A warrior if I ever saw one," Knuckles said admirably, the Yautja shaking his shoulder in greeting, which Knuckles recognized and returned.

"Angela, good to see you again," Shade said genuinely, the girl with black claws striding in with the others.

_"Well, isn't this a coincidence, seeing you all here?"_ joked Ko'skarr, his voice resounding their heads.

"Sorry to seem rude, but who are you guys?" Tails asked. The twin-tailed fox had never met any of them before.

"Well, we are-" Dan started, but Ko'skarr cut him off.

_"Ooh boss, can we do the introduction we practiced?"_

"Uh... I don't know, it seems a little bit overzealous," Dan said unsurly.

_"Come on Dan, what's the point of practicing it if we aren't going to do it?"_ Lu'saa asked_._

"Very well then. Clanker, cue music," Dan ordered the android. He pressed something on his chest and guitar slowly started playing. Then Ko'skarr started to sing:

_We are the chosen ones, we sacrifice our blood, _  
_We kill for honour _  
_We are the holy ones, our armour stained with blood, _  
_We killed the dragon _

_In glory we return, our destination's end, _  
_We slayed the dragon _  
_No more living in fear it's time to raise our king, _  
_We made it happen, we're the chosen ones _

As the music picked up, the Chosen Ones began to do a series of impressive fighting skills, all leaping in one at a time, as their names were called.

_We are the chosen ones, we sacrifice our blood, _  
_We kill for honour _  
_We are the holy ones, our armour stained with blood, _  
_We killed the dragon, _  
_We're the chosen ones _

_Riding through thunder and lighting once again, _  
_We slayed the beast, we brought an end _  
_Now we have left the kingdom of the damned, _  
_Heroes of the day, Legends forever _

_We are the chosen ones, we sacrifice our blood, _  
_We kill for honor _  
_We are the holy ones our armor stained with blood, _

_We killed the dragon _  
_We're the chosen ones _

_It seems to me like an army without men, _  
_So many years, too many battles _  
_we've finally arrived, now we're standing at the gates, _  
_Heroes of the day, legends forever _

_In glory we return, our destination's end, _  
_We slayed the dragon _  
_No more living in fear it's time to raise our king, _  
_We made it happen we're the chosen ones! _

_We are the chosen ones, we sacrifice our blood, _  
_We kill for honor _  
_We are the holy ones our armor stained with blood, _  
_We killed the dragon _  
_In glory we return, our destination's end, _  
_We slayed the dragon _  
_No more living in fear, it's time to raise our king, _  
_We made it happen, we're the chosen ones _

_We are the chosen ones, we sacrifice our blood, _  
_We kill for honour _  
_We are the holy ones, our armour stained with blood, _  
_We killed the dragon _  
_In glory we return, our destination's end, _  
_We slayed the dragon _  
_No more living in fear it's time to raise our king, _  
_We made it happen we're the chosen ones..._

They all finished in heroic poses.

"How do ya like them apples?" Nightshade asked. Everyone just stared at them, mouths agog and eyes wide.

"Okay," Tails said, "that... was impressive."

* * *

Dalek X watched from his observation deck aboard the _Exterminator II _as the city of Soleanna was burning, the Dalek Attack Squads leveled buildings and put down any small pockets of resistance that still thought they had a chance at victory.

Hope. That was what was driving them to fight. Emotion clouded logic and fact, leading to delusion and insanity. Any being would be insane to stand against the might of the Dalek Empire. They would all be exterminated soon enough.

**"INQUSITOR GENERAL,"** the voice of a Dalek subordinate caused Dalek X to turn.** "ADVANCED SCANNERS HAVE DETECTED A LARGE CONCENTRATION OF MOBIANS TOWARD SECTION EPSILON-FOUR."**

**"THE VOLCANO?"** That was supposed to be the last known location of Doctor Ivo Robotnick. **"THEY MUST BE ATTEMPTING TO JOIN FORCES. INFORM THE LEADER OF ATTACK SQUAD BETA FIVE TO INVESTIGATE AND EXTERMINATE ALL ACTIVITY IN THAT LOCATION."**

**"WHAT IF SONIC RESISTS?"**

Dalek X turned on a video screen and it showed the young rabbit they had captured. **"THEN HE WILL WATCH HER DIE."  
**

* * *

Done and done.

Taser: Finally!

Glacier: See, told you would.

Taser: I know, I know. See you next time, I guess.

Glacier: R&R! We need your love!

Don't over do it, Glace.


	4. Knowing Me, Knowing You

Let's all get to know one another! It's good to have friends.

Glacier: Too right bro!

Hey, where's Taser?

Glacier: Oh, you know... somewhere...

Glacier... what did you do?

Tornado: Let's just get this started, shall we?

**Knowing Me, Knowing You**

"You're sure he's gonna be okay?" Amy asked Li'thicka sincerely.

"Amy, trust me. He'll be fine," the hybrid reassured her, in a gentle voice. "Clanker is very good with this sort of thing." She followed Amy's gaze to where Sonic was recovering on a bed, Nightshade having sent him to sleep, so he would heal quicker. The robot in question was observing, making sure he didn't leave until he was able to use both legs without help.

"Okay, I believe you," Amy replied. "Only 'cause you saved my life though," she added, giggling.

"I'm glad you and him are together now," Li'thicka said. "I'm happy for you both."

"Thanks," Amy responded, then asked with a smile; "So, is there anyone you have your eye on?" The hybrid's reaction was that she faltered and broke eye contact with her.

"Uh... um no... I uh..." she stammered, fidgeting as she did.

"Uh huh. You know, you're a really bad liar," Amy, said slyly. "Come on, you can tell me. I can keep a secret!"

The hybrid looked left and right down the corridor and appeared to be convinced that no one else was with them. She then beckoned her to come closer, so she could whisper. Amy did so, going right next to her lip-less mouth.

"It's the Wolf." As soon as she said that, she hid her head in her hands and turned away.

"The big guy with the muscles?" Amy asked, her smile growing wider. Li'thicka didn't answer verbally, she just nodded quickly. "Aw, that is so cute!" Li'thicka looked up in surprise and cocked her head at Amy.

"You... you think so?" she asked tentatively.

"Of course! I think it's sweet," Amy replied. "So, why don't you tell him?"

"I'm just... scared. You know, about how he'll react? I mean, I'm only half his species!"

"Love has no boundaries. Maybe he's just as shy and unsure as you are," Amy suggested. "Give him time. He'll come to his senses soon enough."

Li'thicka looked at the pink hedgehog, her eyes full of truth, her voice full of sincerity. She had never really talked to anyone about her personal feelings. Lu'saa had tried getting the truth out of her, but gave up and she was sure Nightshade would laugh. Yet here was Amy Rose, a girl she had only known for a few minutes, who had managed to get her to talk about her issues and feel a lot better for doing it.

"Thanks Amy," She said simply and they turned their attention back to Sonic, waiting and watching

* * *

Of all the people Shadow had met in his long life, he had never encountered a being much like Ko'skarr. Even though they had known each other for a short while, the Alien soon found out everything about him. This was probably due to his telepathy, but it saved Shadow having to explain it all. It also made him make a mental note to learn about mental defenses.

Rouge was also not too far away and was in conversation with Lu'saa, although they couldn't hear the female Xenomorph's side of it, as she had restricted her thoughts so only Rouge could hear them in her head, as Ko'skarr was doing for Shadow.

_"I gotta say Shadow, you are one fierce fighter!" _Ko'skarr was saying to him. _"Your Chaos Control ability just makes me green with envy!"_

"Yeah," Shadow agreed, "I guess you could say that."

_"So Rouge,"_ he started, _"she's you're woman now, huh?"_

"That's right, although," he said in a low voice, "I think she had some help... confessing."

_"Well, we couldn't find Lu'saa or the other girls one time," _Ko'skarr mentioned curiously, _"and when they came back, she said they'd been away on 'personal business...'_

_"Anyway, what do you think of our... nemeses?"_

Shadow didn't need to ask what he was talking about. The Daleks. Shadow couldn't believe what he was up against when he'd entered battle and engaged them. Chaos Spear had done very little damage when he'd used it and Chaos Blast had only knocked them back, but they'd carried on fighting as if nothing happened. He had not fought something that could probably match him in battle for a long time_.  
_

Defeating them certainly wasn't going to be easy_._ The Chosen Ones seemed to have fought them in the past and having them on their side would give them an edge, but otherwise, chances of victory were slim. They would have to wait until their leader told them the plan of attack, but he answered the question anyway:

"I think they are persistent adversaries at best. Beating them is going to take skill and a lot of luck in my opinion," he said with a small smile. "We'll have to come up with a good plan if we're going to fight them.

_"Well, pretty soon, Shads," _Ko'skarr began,_ "you'll learn plans don't really come up to much. They__ don't ever run the way you want to, the way I see them. Soon, you'll learn to do what I do."_ He said this while looking at Lu'saa, who looked at him and waved.

"Which is...?" Shadow asked, as Rouge winked at him.

_"Make it up as you go along," _Ko'skarr answered, baring his teeth in a grin.

* * *

Tails was in a state of despair. He didn't know how they could possibly get out of this one alive. Hundreds of people had been slaughtered and they couldn't save them. Cream was captured and they couldn't rescue her. Queen Elise was dead and they hadn't helped her. They had just let it happen. Tails knew they couldn't have done anything if they had wanted to and they did want to, but people saw Sonic and the others as heroes, who had to protect them... and they had failed them.

Cosmo was with him. She had stopped crying now and she was looking at him forlornly, like she would do anything to ease his suffering, but afraid to say anything, in case she made him feel worse. And someone did help him, but it wasn't Cosmo.

Tails was looking at her and she at him, until he saw her eyes focus on something behind him and he turned to look.

"Hey," said Taser the Hedgehog, as he walked towards them, "it's Tails and Cosmo, right?"

"That's right, yes," Cosmo confirmed, smiling politely.

"You two haven't said much since you arrived, and when you wondered off, I thought I'd come and see if you're okay," he told them.

"I'm fine, thank you," Cosmo said, "it's just my boyfriend (She blushed slightly at the use of the word) he's not feeling..." She didn't finish and turned away, but Taser had heard enough. He walked over to the twin-tailed fox and sat beside him.

"So, what's wrong, Tails?" he asked reasonably. "It's best if you talk about you're problems, rather than just bottle them up."

"Why the hell do you care!" Tails yelled angrily, standing up and and pointing at him. "I barely even know you and you expect me to tell you how I'm feeling?"

Cosmo covered her mouth in shock. She'd never seen Tails so angry before or even lose his temper at anyone. She looked to see Taser's reaction and was surprised to see he was still smiling.

"Okay then," he said calmly and stood up. "If you don't want to talk, I understand just fine. I didn't really care anyway." He said this with a blank face and began to walk away. Tails watched after him, not saying anything, until...

"Wait," Tails requested. "You're right. I need to talk with someone."

"Then why don't you?" Taser asked this to Cosmo.

"I- I didn't want to," she stuttered, sounding ashamed of herself, "in case I just... made it worse..." she finished quietly.

"Well, you never know until you try, do you?" he rhetorically asked. "You're his girlfriend, you two should be able to talk to each other about your problems, if not anyone else. Don't you think?"

Cosmo didn't reply to this directly. She just went up to Tails, took his hands and looked straight at him, asking what was bothering him. Taser watched and listened as Tails told the Seedrain what was bothering him. No wonder the kid was so worked up, he thought. Guilt wasn't an easy thing to live with and as soon as you told someone about it, you felt better about it, then you could just let it all out.

That's just what Tails did and he was soon crying into Cosmo's shoulder, as she stroked the back of his head and kissed him on the cheek, telling him it was going to be alright. A real role reversal, Taser thought, as he turned and walked off. As he strode into the nearby corridor, he noticed a slight chill and saw something blue quickly flash out of sight.

"Glacier!" he called out. "I know you're there! Come out!" There was scilence, and then the ice-cat stepped out, a mock pout on her face.

"Aw, you saw me. No fair."

"How long have you been out here?" he asked, getting to the point.

"Long enough, _Mr Cool,_" she said sarcastically, and then smiled. "That was really sweet, what you did. I knew there was big heart in there somewhere, ya big ol' softy."

"Whatever, I just did what I thought was best," he said dismissively. "Don't you dare mention this to anyone, you hear me?"

"You're secret's safe with me," she promised, with a wink. "I'm gonna go find that guy Silver, see if he's single." With that, she bounded off, humming to herself. All I Want For Christmas Is You oddly.

Women. Who really understood them?

* * *

"So, how did you all meet? How did he find them all?" Silver was asking Nightshade. He would have asked Dan, but he was busy with Angela, formulating their attack plan against the Daleks, along with Blaze.

Seeing that he was a little 'lonesome without Blaze' Nightshade had come to keep him company, as they looked out over the lava flow, the glow from the molten rock shining off her metal body made her look almost beautiful, in her own way.

"Oh, here an' there," she told him in her Southern accent. "He bought us all together, found us, united us. We owe him everythin'." She looked out over the cavern and sighed. "I just hope we can repay him someday, for everythin'...

She turned to look at Silver, her glowing blue eyes gazing deeply into his.

"Ya know what I was created for, Silver?"

"No, why?"

"I was created to destroy, to fight in a war between machines and humans. I was supposed to be a mindless, soulless killing machine, who didn't care about the people I killed. I would just carry out my programmin', with no questions asked." Her voice changed, from one of bitter loathing, to one of inspiration and gratitude.

"Then, when I was scheduled to be incinerated, they all busted lil' ol' me outta that deathtrap. Before I knew it, I had friends, people I could trust, who watch my back in battle and are a hell of a good time to hang with."

"Really?" Silver asked, his voice full of pity.

"I never get tired of hearing that story," said Glacier, as she bounced next to Silver, grinning at him as she did.

"What's up Glace?" asked Nightshade.

"The sky," she answered, before turning to Silver. "So, you're Blaze's boyfriend, right?"

"Uh yeah," Silver said, blushing as he did.

"Too bad," Glacier pouted, "you're pretty cute." Silver blushed deeper at that comment and Glacier giggled, as did Nightshade. At that point, they heard what sounded like fighting, not too far away.

"Now what in the name of Skynet do y'all suppose is goin' on?" Nightshade wondered aloud.

"Let's go find out!" Glacier proclaimed and led the way to the sounds of fighting. Silver smiled as he went, looking at Glacier while he did. He wondered what Blaze's reaction would've been if she had heard that little comment.

* * *

Knuckles leaped aside from the Wolf's attack, as his fist came forward and made to hit his face and attempted to move in with a counter, but that was quickly blocked as he was forced backwards, skidding across the floor.

"Excellent form, Knuckles," the alien hunter praised, standing ready to reengage, "good retaliation and reflexes. You might just win this fight."

"I plan to," Knuckles replied, with a grin. He ran in again on the offensive, leaped into the air and punched down. The Wolf ducked under it and action-rolled across behind Knuckles, pulling out two shuriken as he did.

"We'll see," he said, before throwing them at him. The Wolf had been curious to see what Knuckle's skills were on the battlefield and challenged him to a little brawl, just until one of them submitted to the other. So far, it looked as if it would go either way, neither willing to surrender and both eager to show off.

Knuckles dodged one of the spinning blades, grabbed the other one and threw it back to it's owner, who had to deflect it with his Combi-spear. The other boomeranged back and he caught it, flicking it and sheathing it's blades, before replacing it in his bandoleer. A metallic 'shink' sounded as he drew his wrist knives and ran at Knuckles, who ran and grabbed the other bladed disc and used it as a melee weapon.

The Wolf bought his knives down towards his chest, but Knuckles parried it, remaining defensive as the Wolf pressed his attack on him, the five bladed disc sparking as it parried back the two bladed ones.

Knuckles then saw an opening in the Predator's defense, took his chance and slashed his leg. The Wolf grunted in pain and knelt, making Knuckles move in to finish him off. He raised the disc and bought it down... but it hit the floor. Before the echidna knew it, he felt the cold metal of two blades pressed against the back of his neck.

"I win," the Wolf said simply, sheathing his knives and helping Knuckles to his feet. "Well fought, Knuckles the Echidna."

"Good show Wolf! Bravo!" Tornado applauded. "Terribly sorry Knuckles, but that was a damn good fight all the same."

"Well whatever happens, you'll always be a winner to me," Shade said, kissing him on the cheek. "And I am never saying anything that cheesy again."

"Now that was a real scuffle, right there," came the Southern American accent of Nightshade, as she walked in with Glacier and Silver and perched herself on a bench, legs crossed and arms folded.

"Hey, seeing how the Wolf and Knuckles had a spar, do you think I could fight someone?" Shade asked.

"I don't see why not, but who...?" The Wolf stopped and looked to see Amy and Li'thicka had arrived, obviously to see what all the noise was all about. His mind was made up. He called over to her and she came up, if a little timidly, proposed what she would do and she nodded.

"It's settled then. Shade, you shall fight my old apprentice and fellow hunter, Li'thicka."

"Well, this should be good, huh?" Nightshade whispered to Glacier, who grinned and gave a thumbs-up to the hybrid, as she walked out in the middle of the arena. The android then pressed something on her body and music began to play.

"What? I think this needs somethin'," she said at the looks she got. Li'thicka she and Shade moved a respectable distance away and bowed graciously to each other, their expressions blank and indifferent.

"May the best warrior win," Li'thicka said courteously and drew her elder blades.

"Indeed," Shade replied, pulling out the shuriken the Wolf had given her and unsheathing it's blades. Formalities over, she started the attack, running at Li'thicka and engaging in a similar fashion Knuckles had. The hybrid, however, wasn't quite what she expected. It was more like she was dancing than fighting, creating a perfect blend of artificial weapons and her own biological abilities.

One move caught her off-guard, when she parried a blow, spun round and hit her with her tail, sending Shade flying into the air. She had to move quickly, as Li'thicka sent a round of spears flying at her, one of them grazing her side. She clutched at the wound, but she knew it wasn't bad. It had merely caught her by surprise. She leaped out and threw the disc at her, but she deflected it, embedding it in the ground. Shade then realized that she would have to use a different tactic. If she could just make physical contact with her...

A loud roar gave another surprise, as she saw Li'thicka charging at her, head in front, like she was going to ram her with it. Shade jumped to avoid it and was hit again in mid-air.

Li'thicka had feinted, stopping in her charge and hitting Shade while she was in the air. The hybrid, however, felt a pressure on it and saw Shade gripping hold of the end of her tail. As she tried to shake the Nocturnus off, she felt her strength beginning to ebb. When she looked again at Shade, she saw her hands glowing deep purple. She must be using her energy drain ability that she was told about. It was slow, but it was doing it's job.

She collapsed to the ground, he knees bent and her weapons clanked as she dropped them to the ground. She raised her head with considerable effort. She couldn't defeat an opponent with an ability like that. She was the better fighter. Then, her eyes set on the Wolf. He was watching her intently and he looked worried. He had trained her better than this. She couldn't fail him. No, she thought, gathering her remaining strength. She _wouldn't _fail him!

She felt Shade loosen her grip slightly, thinking she was too weak to fight and took her chance. She swung her tail as hard as she could and felt the pressure lift from it. She looked up to see the echidna flying through the air. She jumped up, grabbed her by the throat and pressed a blade to her neck, just as they hit the ground, effectively pinning her, just as the music finished.

"How- how did you-?" Shade started, her words strangled from lack of air, but Li'thicka let go and helped her up.

"Just got lucky, I guess," the hybrid said modestly, "you almost had me with that energy drain."

"You won Li'thicka, fair and square," Shade reminded her, shaking her two-fingered, two-thumbed hand, "victory is yours."

"You go girl!" Nightshade yelled, running up and playfully punching her. "You kick ass!"

"An astounding duel, truly inspiring!" Tornado congratulated.

"WOOP!" was all Glacier said.

"An excellent battle, Li'thicka," the Wolf praised, "you make me proud."

"Thank you all, it was nothing," she said shyly, flushing with all the praise.

"Too bad I had to miss it," came a new voice and they turned to see Eggman looking down at them from the balcony above. "I've been sent to tell you all that discussions are over. We are ready."

"You mean..." Silver began to ask, but Eggman replied saying:

"Yes, we have devised a way to fight the Daleks. Now come, one and all. Let's beat those tin-plated pepper-pots back where they came from!" He fiished with a wide grin and a chuckle and they all followed him to the meeting room. At last, it was time to fight back.

* * *

While they were all doing this, another figure was all the way back at Soleanna, looking out at the fleet of Daleks and their mass of ships. He was patient at most times, but his friend was trapped somewhere in those ships. He had watched as the evil monsters took her as their captive and it had made anger swell up in the depths of his programming, at them and himself for not doing anything to help her. Ever since he'd restored a backup copy of himself, he had been running to find her again, but without the speed he had copied from Sonic the Hedgehog in his first form, that had taken more time.

Cream had shown him so much kindness and friendship. Now he was here to pay back that kindness and become her friend once again. But charging into there and trying to find her would kill both him and her. He had witnessed how powerful and ruthless the Daleks could be and knew he would be outmatched and unable to copy their abilities, as they weren't humanoid. He didn't want that, to relive the empty silence and loneliness of inactivity, or 'death'. Not again.

As his big, pale blue eyes watched the fleet, he saw one of the ships move out of formation with the rest of the fleet and go off alone. Only something big would distract single-minded beings like them from their duty and there was only one big thing in this world that could do that. Sonic. He could help him get her back. He was sure of it.

As fast as he could, he made to follow the space craft, his purpose clear, his mind made up. Follow the Daleks, find Sonic, rescue Cream.

"Don't worry, Cream," Emerl the Gizoid murmured to himself. "I am coming for you."

* * *

Phew! That was one long chapter! The name of the music that Nightshade plays is called Agent Tex, from the Red Vs Blue Revelation soundtrack, in case you were curious.

Glacier: Yeah, you're longest yet! Not sure about putting in Emerl though... oh what the heck!

Taser: Ow... uh... my head...

What happened to you?

Taser: I... don't really know...

Glacier...!

Glacier: *whistles and sings* I know no-othing!

Tornado: Read and review, if you will. We worked bloody hard on this, it's the least you can do.


	5. Plan Of Attack

Let's get down to planning!

Glacier: Okay, so we disable the alarm system, slip in through the air ducts, then rappel down and grab the diamond!

Put those away you twit!

Glacier: Woops! *puts away papers* You all saw nothing! You hear me! NOTHING!

Taser: I think they get the message Glace.

Glacier: NOTHING!

Tornado: On with it then...

**Plan Of Attack**

**"Role call complete, sir. We are all here," **Clanker stated, taking his place at the table with the others.

"Alright then, let's get started," Dan said, standing at the head of the table, clad in metal armor, except for his head, his helmet under his arm. "Now then, I would like to thank you all for waiting so patiently while we discussed our plans, but I assure you, it's worth the wait.

"First, let me tell you a bit about what we're up against; the Daleks are not of this planet, in fact, they're not even from this dimension. They used what's called a Dimension Jump to slip through from another dimension to this one. They are brilliant scientists and engineers, which means they are damn near capable of producing something like that.

"They are capable of doing anything, because they have no morality. They have no emotion, to a degree. The Dalek race were genetically engineered, every single emotion was removed, except anger and hate."

"Genetically engineered..." Eggman murmured, "by whom, may I ask? I have been curious at that."

"By a genius, Robotnick," Angela answered, "by a man who was king of his own little world, you'd like him. Now, please be quiet and let my husband continue."

"Thank you, Angie. As I was saying," he resumed, "it is impossible to reason with the Daleks. You cannot deal with them, you can't trust them. They all have one track minds, completely focused on their duty. Their only goal is to establish, what they think, is their rightful place as the supreme beings of the universe. We are different and anything different is wrong. Any other beings that aren't Dalek are fit only for subjugation, enslavement or extermination."

As he spoke, Clanker pulled out a spherical device and let it float in the air. As it did, it projected a hologram of a Dalek, which zoomed in on a specific part when Dan came to mention it, showing readouts and schematics.

"As for their combat capabilities, they are numerous and impressive. They have a 360 degree field of vision, various methods of vision, including x-ray and thermal imaging and a 360 degree field of fire to match. Their weapons have various destructive capabilities, which range from leveling buildings and completely atomizing your body. If their guns fail, they still have their manipulators, which can crush bricks into dust and a self destruct, which stops their technology from getting into non-Dalek hands. Then there's their brains. Daleks are intelligent, but they are also cunning, deceitful and evil. You can't trust them in an inch, not even in death. Just one Dalek is capable of destroying the whole world. Never underestimate them. Never.

"As for their armor, well where can I begin? It's made from Dalekanium, with bonded polycarbide, making it extremely resilient to most ballistic and explosive weapons. On top of that, it's also got it's own protective shield, making it even harder to kill and most of the armor has backup and self-repair abilities. As mentioned, there is a self-destruct capability in the hemispheres here and gravity repulsors under the motive power here, enabling the Dalek to fly."

"Well, this is encouraging," Knuckles commented sarcastically. "Are you going to tell us how to fight them or just tell us how they're going to have fifty ways to kill us?"

_"Oh hey Knuckles, did you get that message I sent?"_ Ko'skarr asked.

"No. What message?"

_"Shut up! He's telling you information that could save your lives. Now, be quiet or I'll shut you up myself."_

"Is that a threat?" Knuckles asked, raising his fist and glaring at him.

_"No, its a promise," _he retorted.

"Both of you, stop fighting!" Everyone looked round to see Cosmo standing up, close to tears. "We already have an enemy, we don't need to make more amongst ourselves. We need to be fighting the Daleks, not each other." She stood there for a bit, then sat back down, looking at the floor and blushing bright red.

"Well said there, lil' lady," Nightshade praised, earning a smile from the Seedrain. "She's right. Both a-ya, quit squabblin' like kids and listen to what's bein' said."

"Thank you Nightshade and Cosmo, for your help," Dan said with gratitude. "As I was saying, while the Dalek's strengths are numerous, they do have their weaknesses. The main one is their eye stalks. This has no backup system, unlike the rest of the casing. Take that out and the Dalek is effectively blind, but be careful regardless; they have sensor systems all over their casings and they may start panicking and fire in every direction. Another weak spot is underneath the motive power, where the gravity repulsors are. The force field can't quite protect this area when it's active, so if you attack and destroy that, the Dalek will be rendered immobile, but you'll need to get directly underneath it to try that.

"Their emotions are also a weakness. Due their supremacy belief, they are extremely proud and arrogant, making them susceptible to high levels of anger when insulted, which can be either good or bad however you look at it. You can use it as a distraction, but there is a fine line between bravery and suicide when baiting the Daleks. A few others worthy of mention are high-powered energy weapons and explosives, enough to break the shield and casing, intense sonic beams, extremely low temperatures, if you're lucky the mutant inside will die from the shock and bastic-headed bullets, which can rip through the dalekanium but only if the shield is disabled first.

"Hope you were all paying attention, there may be a test," he finished, smiling at them all. "Any questions?" No one raised their hands, even Knuckles stayed silent. "Very well then. Blaze, you have the floor."

"Thank you, Daniel," Blaze said, standing before the gathering of beings. "From the presentation given, you know that we are all up against formidable opponents, beings we have never seen the like of before. However, we have devised a plan to fight them.

"We all be divided into three different groups, each with their own mission. The first group will act as a distraction for the bulk of the Dalek forces for the two other groups. The second group will locate the ship that holds Cream prisoner and rescue her, so the Daleks don't have any leverage over us by using her as a hostage. The third will board the main flagship, the _Exterminator II, _locate and destroy Dalek X, the main leader of the invasion force. Once he is destroyed, we shall eliminate the Dalek invasion force.

"How do we do that?" asked Shadow, leaning back on his chair and looking skeptical. "They're not exactly easy to kill.

"I was coming to that Shadow," she replied irritably. "The Chosen Ones have bought along a weapon that they claim will wipe out the Daleks. Clanker, Nightshade, if you will," she gestured and returned to her seats as the two androids stood up in front of the meeting.

"'Sup y'all?" Nightshade asked, smiling. "Okay then, to business. First, lemme explain to y'all; many years ago, in the universe they came from, the Daleks were barin' teeth at a race-a robots called the Movellans. They had a problem, bein' that every time a side attempted a strategy, it was anticipated and countered by the opponent's battle computer."

"A logical en passe!" Eggman yelled impressively. "Two totally logical war machines unable to outhink each other. A fascinating concept! If only I'd been there."

"Hey, big and bald, can it!" Nightshade ordered and returned to speaking. "As I was sayin', with this problem having no foreseeable solution for either side, the Movellans tried somethin' different. A risky move, but it paid off."

She then gestured dramatically to Clanker who took center and pulled out a transparent container, in which was a gray mist, moving eerily about inside.

**"This was the solution. The Movellans developed this virus to use against the Daleks, but it only attacks Dalek tissue, then dies when it's work is done. However, this sample is weak and inactive and would do about as much damage as a pin prick.**

**"We have also discovered that Dalek X has taken a hint from another Dalek plan and built these Daleks using his own DNA. His genetic code runs through the entire army, with the exception of the small amount of Daleks that came with him. If we get a sample of Dalek X's DNA and use it to create an active solution, then all we need do is release it and the Daleks will be wiped out by the virus."**

"Thank you Clanker, Nightshade, you may return to your seats," the Wolf invited, taking their places at the head. "Now, you have heard the plan and you know the enemy you're fighting. You should also know the risks.

"I'm going to be frank; there is a high chance that some of you may die in this mission. The Daleks don't spare anyone, man, woman or child. We are different and anything different to them is wrong, it's the ultimate in racial cleansing. They will not hesitate to kill you, if you give them the chance. If any of you feel that you don't wish to participate or feel you are unable to, make yourself known."

For a while, no one did. Then, Cosmo stood up and said: "I don't think I can. I don't even know how to fight, nor do I want to. I'm sorry."

The Wolf smiled slightly. He knew she wouldn't want to; Seedrains weren't a violent species, he'd been told... apart from the Meterax. He nodded in understanding and let her sit back down. After her, no one else let him know.

"Good. I will be leading the distraction party, along with Li'thicka. Anyone who volunteers to join us, move forward and stand with me."

Again, he had to wait for a bit, before Omega clomped his several metric-tonne frame beside him. Shadow also joined his group, as did Taser, Silver, Knuckles and Shade. When no one else joined, the Wolf bowed his head to his volunteers and sat down with them in one group.

Next, Ko'skarr took center, moving over the table on arms and legs and rising like a great, black serpent before them all.

_"I'm in charge of the rescue team, as is Lu'saa. Come on up, of you think you're hard enough!" _Blaze joined this group, Cream being one of her best friends it was only natural. Tails stood up and joined too, followed by Glacier.

Dan then began his recruiting, now wearing his helmet with the rest of his armor.

"As you may have guessed, I'll be leading the Dalek X assassination squad and so is Angela. When you're ready." Tornado went immediately, followed closely by Rouge and finally, Amy. Pleased with the choice he had, Dan began to conclude; "Well, now that's sorted..."

"Hey, you're not going anywhere without me," came a voice they all knew, as Sonic entered the room, his cocky grin decorating his face and walking perfectly well. Amy ran up and enveloped him in a hug before anyone could say otherwise.

"Oh Sonic! You're okay!"

"Whoa, calm down Ames, of course I'm okay," he said with a smile. "I'm joining you're group Dan, now I'm all better."

"Are you sure Sonic?" Dan asked. "The last thing we want is for you to suffer pain spasms in battle."

"The robots checked me out, I'm fit as a fiddle and ready to get some payback on that..." He stopped, searching for the right word.

_"... mean green mother from outer space?" _Ko'skarr supplied helpfully.

"Perfect!" Sonic grinned. "Besides, I'm not letting Amy outta may sight. Where she goes, I go."

"Oh Sonic, that's so sweet!" Amy kissed his cheek and stood close to him as he went to Dan's group.

"Excellent!" Dan declared. "While we do all this, Clanker, Nightshade and Eggman will stay here and try to make the virus into an active sample, so it will be ready for use when we return with Dalek X's DNA. Good luck to us a-"

He stopped when they all heard a noise, coming through the base's speakers. A slow, rhythmic, mechanical noise, like a heartbeat of a machine. The Chosen Ones all had looks of realization and fear on their faces and knew what was coming, as a view-screen flared to life, the wide, bronze form filling the image.

**"ATTENTION, ATTENTION: THIS IS THE LEADER OF ATTACK SQUAD BETA-5," **the Dalek announced. **"YOU WILL SURRENDER TO THE DALEKS. IF YOU RESIST US- **the image zoomed out and showed Cream, between two Daleks, tears running down her face- **SHE WILL BE EXTERMINATED. YOU HAVE 500 RELS TO COME OUT AND SURRENDER."  
**

The image vanished and the noise left. Everyone stood in stunned silence, until...

"Guys," Glacier spoke, "this is an unforeseen complication."

"Well, time to face the music. Come on everyone," Dan said and led the way out. Everyone else followed behind, no one saying anything, for no one could see a way out of this situation without Cream dying.

They emerged from the base to find a large group of Daleks waiting for them, composing of twenty or so of them, a saucer hovering over their heads. Cream was being held between the two Daleks and she was pushed into the group with them.

"Cream, you poor thing!" Blaze embraced the rabbit, as she cried into her shoulder. She looked up at the Squad Leader. "Okay, we cooperated. Now, you won't harm us, just let us go." The Leader remained silent for a while, then spun to face the two Daleks that had been guarding Cream.

**"ATTACK FORMATION SEVEN,"** it ordered. Both Daleks moved in front of the group and lowered their gun arms.

"What?" Amy looked horrified. "But-"

"Daleks don't take prisoners, unless they plan to exploit them or if they need them," Dan stated in a bland voice. "We'd just be a waste of time and resources to guard. So, they're just going to kill us."

**"CORRECT. YOUR DEATHS WILL ADVANCE THE GREATER DALEK CAUSE**." The Leader turned back to the Daleks. **"READY!" **Amy hugged Sonic and Blaze held Silver's hand and wrapped one arm around Cream. **"TAKE AIM!" **Shadow placed a hand on Rouge's shoulder and Tails embraced Cosmo. The Chosen Ones exchanged final glances with each other and Glacier wrapped her arms tight around Tornado and Taser and scrunched up her eyes.

**"EXTERMINATE!"

* * *

**Cliffhanger! Ooh, I'm cruel! Sorry if this took a while, I was being kept busy.

Glacier: *scoffs and rolls eyes*

Oh be quiet you, or I'll tell Taser who took that 20 quid out of his wallet.

Glacier: You wouldn't...

Try me.

Tornado: Remember to post your review, if you will. It's nice to be appreciated and criticzed. You need to be challenged.

If only someone told George Lucas that...


	6. Fighting Back

You can take our land!

Glacier: But you'll never take our ice-cream!

Taser: Uh... Glace?

Glacier: I know what I said!

Tornado: Here we are, ice cream.

Glacier: YAY!

I'll let you guys eat those while we get on with the story.

**Fighting Back**

Nightshade was looking into the face of death. Though she couldn't see a way out of this, she wasn't going to go down without a fight she thought, as she fingered her lightsaber, hanging from her waist.

**"EXTERMINATE!" **came the signal of their doom. The two Daleks facing them powered up their energy weapons, were about to fire... and they both exploded.

**"ALERT, ALERT! UNDER ATTACK!" **screeched a nearby Dalek, as it's eye swept around for the attacker.

"Ten out of ten for observation," said an artificial voice between the two smoking wrecks. They all looked to see a figure emerging from the smoke. It was a robot, but not just any robot. It had the kind of design only recognizable as a Gizoid and there was only one Gizoid they knew:

"Emerl!" Cream was the first to recognize him and his blue eyes seemed to shine as she said his name. The Daleks around him swiveled around and all pointed their gun arms at him, all twitching, ready to open fire.

**"EXTERMINATE HIM! EXTERMINATE!" **ordered the Squad Leader, firing his own gun, blue energy flying towards the robot. Another beam of blue energy, however, stopped it in it's tracks and deflected it back where it came from. The Leader of Attack Squad Beta-5 screamed as the neutronic radiation fried the creature inside and everyone looked to see Nightshade, lightsaber ignited and ready for a fight.

"All-a ya! Get inside the base! Me and Emerl will cover ya till y'all are clear!" she yelled at the group.

The other Chosen Ones began herding the others through the doors as quickly as they could. The remaining Daleks began to attack, with Emerl and Nightshade dodging and attacking, remaining on the defensive to the best of their abilities. Nightshade looked at how Emerl was attacking and a quick scan showed that he was perfectly replicating the energy in a Dalek gun beam. He was just letting bolts fly from his hands, though the Daleks had now adjusted their shields to the firepower and wasn't much use against them.

Soon, they retreated back inside the base, as the large doors closed in front of them. As soon as the line of light vanished, both artificial beings ran full pelt back to the conference room, to discuss the new development. Cream was the first to move as they returned, hugging Emerl, which the Gizoid gladly returned.

"Right, what's the plan?" asked Nightshade, getting straight to the point.

"Obviously, we take out the rest of the Daleks out there," Shadow suggested.

"How?" Tails queried. "That isn't exactly straight forward."

"We've already taken out three of them, there isn't a lot of the group out there left," Silver pointed out optimistically.

"There was a saucer out there and not all the Daleks on board will have left," Li'thicka informed. "There'll still be a good number manning the controls and acting as backup, in case the primary attack group is destroyed."

"Okay, new plan," Dan said, pointing out people as he said their names. "Knuckles, Shadow, Blaze get aboard that ship and destroy it, I don't care how. Nightshade, go with them and see if you can crack into the information banks on the ship. There should be records on what the rest of the fleet will be doing. The rest of us will hold the attention of the Attack Squad until they're done. Li'thicka, Glacier, take care of Cream and Cosmo while we hold them back."

"I'll call in some robot squads to help!" proposed Eggman and he ran off to his control station, while the others went about their assigned tasks. The group attacking the saucer hid behind a piece of cover, while the group holding back the Daleks displayed themselves as prominently as possible. The doors that had sealed were now beginning to glow red-hot in the center and looked like it was going to give any second.

"ESTIMATED TIME TO DOOR BREACH: TWENTY SECONDS," Omega calculated, both of his machine guns primed and ready.

**"I had reached those figures myself," **stated Clanker, glancing at the E-Series robot. **"Not bad."**

"COMPLIMENT NOTED: THANK YOU," replied Omega.

"Ko'skarr, take point," ordered Dan, the Alien gliding in front of the line, his Lancer held before him. Lu'saa positioned herself next to him, her two SMGs locked and loaded; the Wolf's plasma casters sprouted from his shoulders and targeting lasers hit the door; Taser's hands were crackling with electricity; Silver's hands were glowing, a ball of molten rock suspended before him, ready to throw; Shade's gloves glowed purple and she let her helmet covered her face; Tornado was hovering in the air, held aloft in a funnel of wind; Emerl was standing stock still, waiting with the patience and calm only a machine could have, as were Clanker and Omega; Rouge was holding two bombs, one in both hands and both beeping from activation; Amy had her hammer out and was holding the end in front of Sonic, crouched on the ground; Tails was holding a glowing blue sphere, electricity sparking from it's workings and Dan and Angela were at the back, both dressed in identical armor and carrying bladed weapons.

"Those bullets are fitted with bastic heads?" asked the Wolf to the gun wielding fighters.

**"Yes, I gave clips to all those with projectile weaponry," **answered Clanker.

"As soon as we get their attention, run for the saucer," Angela instructed the saucer group, who all nodded in confirmation. Silver was looking at Blaze, hoping she wouldn't get hurt. No, he told himself, she could handle herself. She caught his gaze and smiled comfortingly. He felt better.

"FIVE... FOUR... THREE... TWO... ONE..." Omega counted down and, on cue, the door blasted open. Wide, bronze shapes glided through, luminosity dischargers flashing and gun arms twitching.

**"EXTERMINATE!"** They all began to fire on the group, their beams dissipating as an energy field shimmered in front of them. Eggman's doing. The blasts couldn't get in, but their attacks could get out.

Tails threw the sparking blue device at the Daleks, which landed in front of them. One of the Dalek's eyes traveled down to look, as a blue shock wave engulfed them. Something flickered on their casings, then vanished.

**"SHIELDS DEACTIVATED,"** a Dalek informed it's teammates. Silver acted, throwing his lava ball at the closest one. The lava bubbled and hissed on contact, but the only effect it had was that the Dalek was now singed and smoking but still alive.

"See how they like this!" Amy yelled and hit Sonic with her Piko-Piko Hammer. As she did, he had rolled up into a spinning ball and he rocketed off as her hammer made contact. With this distraction in place, the saucer group ran out around the Daleks and slipped out of the door. Sonic bounced off three Daleks before retreating back behind the field. He thought maybe he hadn't done much damage. That is, until...

**"MY VISION IS IMPAIRED! I CANNOT SEE!"** He had knocked off the eye-stalk off one of them and it was now spinning around and firing randomly in all directions. One beam hit one of it's fellows, lighting it up like a city at night. It screamed and died. Another Dalek shot its blinded fellow, ending the screeching.

Shade decided to be bold. She signaled to the Wolf and leaped out from their point of safety, dodging beams that came her way. She jumped between two Daleks and began draining their energy from their casings. The Wolf took this chance and fired both of his plasma casters at the center of the casings, melting the metal and killing the mutants inside. She quickly drained the energy from another one and stored it in her armor, before running back, throwing her shurikan as she did and blinding another one.

"That was brave," the Wolf complimented as she stood beside him. "Stupid, almost suicidal, but brave." Shade just smiled at the Yautja.

"Hey Tornado!" Rouge yelled. When he looked up, she held up her bombs and he got her message. He stood behind her and created a wind tunnel, directing it to one of the Daleks. She then threw the explosives down it, as the countdown reached the final three seconds. They both went off as soon as they reached it, blowing open the front of the casing and exposing the mutant inside. Tornado then funneled the air onto the Dalek, sucked it out of it's cradle and propelled it to Dan, who sliced it in midair, cutting off it's gargled screaming.

"Well hit sir!" the gray hedgehog called. "Very well hit!"

"DALEK TARGETS LOCATED," Omega informed. "LOCKED-" every other gun user got into position, "-LOADED-" aimed their weapons, -"FIRE!" Seven different projectile weapons simultaneously exploded at the tips and let off rounds of bullets. Holes began appearing in the casings of the front most Daleks and eventually exploded. However, the guns had no effect on the Daleks from behind that moved in to take their place.

**"My scans show their shields are restored to a functional status," **Clanker warned, as they stopped to reload from their volley.

_"No really," _came Lu'saa's sarcatstic response. _"Cause I thought we were all firing blanks."_

"Less talk, more shoot!" Taser let off a stream of lightning at the group. He struck one of them and kept up the electrical surge until the blue glow faded from it's eye and it's gun and manipulator drooped. The electricity jumped to it's nearby fellows and Emerl took a chance to let off some replicated Dalek beams at the affected ones, seeing the flicker from their shields. He was rewarded with the dying screams of the two targets.

"The shield can't hold much longer. I suggest we pull back to a safer vantage point," Emerl advised. A new burst of fire rained from above and the robot squads that Eggman had promised descended upon them, letting off rockets and bullets and carrying portable energy shields.

"WE WILL COVER YOUR RETREAT," one of them said. Everyone immediately rose from their battle positions, moving as a new set of doors closed behind them. However, as they did, a Dalek beam slipped through a breach in the shields... and it hit Shade the Echidna. She screamed as the energy lit up her body, showing her skeleton, before collapsing, her eyes closed and her body still.

"Shade!" The Wolf ran and scooped her up, running through the doors just as they shut. Clanker rushed and took her from him, a red scanning light running up and down her body.

**"I need to work on her now!"** He set her down and began to see what he could do.

"I hope that the others are doing alright," Amy voiced, setting herself down next to Sonic, listening to the sounds of battle raging outside the door.

* * *

"Here, there's our point-a entry," Nightshade pointed out at a docking hole that the Daleks came out of to attack. She went in first, lightsaber drawn and sweeping the hanger bay. Seeing nothing, she called it clear and Shadow, Knuckles and Blaze came in behind her.

"Alright, everyone follow me and stay tight," Nightshade ordered. "We try and keep low and make it to the bridge with minimal injury. If I have ma way, all y'all are gonna make it back just fine."

They all nodded. Nightshade thought them an oddly bunch: an emotionally reserved princess, a duty devoted guardian, the rather arrogant Ultimate Lifeform and... herself. Then again, the Jedi had been a somewhat equal group, so one could say she was used to it.

She fondly smiled inward at the thought of those who taught her. She had preferred to train with the mechanically adept Jedi mechanic, Kazdan Paratus in her time at the temple. Though she had no bloodstream that would be flowing with midi-chlorians that any normal Jedi would have. Being an artificial being, she shouldn't be able to _use_ the Force. Yet, the Council had seen her as Force sensitive.

Though her time at the Temple was short, she had learned quite a bit. Again, being a robot, she had been able to download the essentials of lightsaber combat and use of the Force. Paratus had helped her put her skills into practice, by dueling and meditating with her. During the Clone Wars, this had been her first true test. She had taken part in some of the major conflicts, aiding where she could and putting her skills to good use.

When she had her first sensation, the first time she felt the presence of the Force , during a meditation, she had never felt anything like it. To feel the ripples of life and actions in the universe was something she had taken a while to get used to. But after a while, with concentration and patience, she felt as if she could just lose herself in the Force. She then used it as her aid and ally. She excelled beyond her normal limitations, allowing her to achieve near impossible goals and feats and to feel all the happenings in the galaxy was the reason she spent more time in meditation than she did in lightsaber sparring. She had constructed her weapon within the first five days of her training. She loved to feel the abundance of life that she could only experience with the Force. Not that she didn't like to use her lightsaber. She just liked to find other solutions, before having to extinguish another fire of life from existence.

Paratus had been a good friend to her, as well as an excellent sparring partner. She loved his fascination and devotion to working in his workshop, making creations she could never have dreamed of. He liked her as a unique, one-of-a-kind machine, as he said, as well as her winning personality and natural charms, as she'd put in. That had made him laugh, as she recalled fondly. She also rather liked Anakin Skywalker, his humorous attitude and his rebellious nature. It was also that she felt some sympathy for him after his arm was cut off and replaced with a robotic one.

She had been reluctant to return to the Chosen Ones when the opportunity rose, feeling that she had left things unfinished and that she should stay to see peace restored and the end to all the fighting. Now, she thought, taking part in missions like this, she was making up for missing that event and bringing peace elsewhere.

"Hold it!" she whispered. She sensed a void of hate moving close to their position. She motioned them to take cover and they all did so, quickly and quietly. She felt them draw in breath as a Dalek sentry glided by. It stopped for a few seconds, then glided back down the corridor. She watched it go.

She remembered the first time she encountered a Dalek. Dan had told them what to expect from them when they went to follow them through the small rift they'd created with their Dimension Jump. One had remained behind and got onto the ship. She could sense the intentions of most beings through the Force, feeling the ripples generated by their emotions. With the Dalek, she was nearly overwhelmed by what she felt from it. It was a pure, dark void of hatred and anger, with no other intention other than to see her dead. She had paused for a fraction of a second when facing it. That had almost cost her dearly.

They continued on throughout the rest of the ship without too much trouble. They all kept together and, soon later, they arrived at the bridge. Feeling their emotions, Nightshade deduced there were six Daleks on the bridge. There were probably a few more around, but they could deal with them later. She and the others would have to be quick. If the Daleks got a good enough scan of her lightsaber, they would be able to adjust the energy settings of their guns to match that of her weapon so she wouldn't be able to deflect them away.

"All-a ya, take one of these," she told them and handed them EMP grenades she had bought. "These should take out their shields for at least twenty seconds. Now then, on three: One... two... three!"

At this, they ran in and threw the grenades at their targets. They stuck to the casings, let off some rapid beeping and flashed.

**"INTRUDERS! EXTERMINATE!"**

"Not this time, one eye!" Knuckles yelled. He leaped at one of them and punched off it's eye with all the force he could muster. The eyeless cyborg began panicking, screeching for assistance. Knuckles then began punching wherever he could, creating dents in the metal in hopes of killing the bubbling lump of hate within. As he was punching the lower region, the Dalek ceased moving, with exception to the gun and manipulator.

**"MOTIVE SYSTEMS IMPAIRED! I CANNOT MOVE!"** He must have damaged it's movement generators with all the punching he'd been carrying out on the armored chassis. A blue line of energy impaled the center and the screaming stopped.

"Not bad, Knuckle-head," Nightshade complimented. "Not bad at all."

Blaze targeted two Daleks and did what she did best: promptly engulfing them both in intense flame. She focused her efforts on the neck grille, where gases were let in and out of the casing. She guessed the casing prevented extreme heat externally, but she doubted it could withstand an internal heat burst like this.

**"ALERT! ALERT! INTERNAL TEMPERATURE RISING BEYOND ACCEPTABLE LIMITS! THESE UNITS REQUIRE ASSISTANCE!"** one of them alerted it's fellows. Though she wasn't one for humor, this time it seemed appropriate.

"You look like you take yourselves too seriously," she said to them. She moved closer and whispered into the neck grille of one, "Do you want my opinion? You need to... 'lighten up.'" With that, she increased the temperature and fried them from the inside, as the metal began to melt.

"That was for all the people you killed, you monsters," she said, in a satisfied tone.

**"YOU WILL BE EXTERMINATED!" **a Dalek informed Shadow, as he strode confidently towards it. The shields were down and now, it was time to show the Daleks that they were not as superior as they assumed, not against the Ultimate Lifeform anyway.

"Then by all means, proceed," Shadow invited coolly. It fired and he leaped above the shot and let off a Chaos Spear. The Chaos Energy surging through electrical systems caused it act in a jerky fashion. It started speaking gibberish and twitching about. Shadow then walked up and kicked as hard as he could, knocking open the front and exposing the mutant within.

It was small, about the size of a football and a greyish green colour. It didn't have much of a form, it being no more than a blob. Many tentacles branched off from the main body, a brain in was perched on top, looking more separate from the rest and, at the center, was a single eye, yellow, with a black pupil and pulsating with hatred and malice. He could also make out a deformation of another eye and a mouth, all that remained of what it had once been.

"So, you're the nerve center," Shadow remarked. "Well, they do say the best way to kill a serpent is to sever the head." He grabbed it and pulled it out of it's cradle with a loud squelching noise. It gave an equivalent of a squeal as he threw it into the air, jumped into the air and kicked into against the wall with a satisfying splat.

"An' then, there were two," Nightshade noted, at the remaining Daleks. These, she would handle herself. One fired it's weapon, which she swiftly deflected back at it. The other then spoke.

**"ENERGY LEVELS RECORDED. YOU WILL BE UNABLE TO REPEAT THAT TACTIC WHEN I FIRE. YOU WILL SURRENDER YOUR WEAPON AND YOURSELF,"** it told her, as if it could dictate terms to her now.

"Well now," she began, raising her hand. "record this!" Calling upon the Force, she compressed it around the Dalek and onto it. The metal began to creak and bend and the nightmare inside began to panic.

**"UNKNOWN FORCE ACTING UPON THIS UNIT! HELP ME! HELP MEAGGGHHHHH!"** Its pleas became screams. It pained her to hear a being, even one as evil as the Daleks, to suffer like this. She told herself that she was ending the creature's miserable existence and ending one less source of evil to others. Maybe now, in its last vestiges of life, the Dalek experienced one new emotion: fear.

The screaming ended. There was now only the four of them and the carcasses of the six. It was no time to deliberate, it was time to go to the next stage.

"Shadow, watch the door. Any sign-a activity, shout like ya been kicked where it hurts a fella. Blaze, Knuckles you two cover me while I access the ship's info logs. Shouldn't take long."

"How will we know when your finished?" Blaze asked.

"When all the alarms on the ship go off at once," She replied, with a grin. With that, she bent over the console and placed her hands against it, closed her eyes and stood rigid and immobile.

As she did, Blaze couldn't help but think about her. Even Omega, a robot with free will, didn't behave as erratically and unpredictably as he did. She was full of life and personality, just like a real human. Like she was a genuine, thinking human... or Mobian. If only there were more like her. Her fighting skills and method of fighting were unlike any she had ever seen before. She was just like the rest of the team she fought with.

That was another thing that made her think and smile. All of those beings, despite their differences, where they came from, how they looked, what powers they may have, they still put aside these differences and worked together and even liked each other. They weren't blinded by prejudice or hate or rivalry. Just friendship and unity. It sounded a little bit cliche, when she thought about it like that, but she didn't care. She liked that idea and wished others could follow their example.

Suddenly, Nightshade gave a metallic gasp and the ships alarms began going off. The ship then began to shudder and shake. They were moving. Seconds later, the android stood back from the console.

"Alright then, let's get goin'," she said.

"What did you do?" asked Knuckles.

"Well, after raidin' their data banks, I changed the energy flows goin' into the ship's power core so that, now, it'll overload, then explode, which should be in about-" she looked off to the side and looked back -"one minute from now."

"So, we should get moving?" Shadow asked.

"Unless you wanna be here when this thing blows, yeah we should," Nightshade answered, then ran full pelt out the exit, with her Mobian trio following behind. They made it back to the hanger they started from without any hassle from the Daleks that may have still been on board, if any.

"Hurry, before the doors close!" yelled Nightshade.

"What? Close?" came an incredulous reply from Shadow.

"Yeah, I instructed the computer to close the doors in all hangers, so no Daleks could scarper on outta here," she explained, looking curiously at Shadow. "Didn't I mention that?" He raised an eyebrow at her. "Okay, guess I didn't. Still, less talk, more run!"

They all ran like the Dickens, as the doors to the hanger were starting to close. A Dalek emerged from a side door and soptted them.

**"HALT! REMAIN WHERE YOU ARE!"** None of them did. It began firing, but all of it's shots missed, as the group dived through the doors. Luckily, the ship wasn't too high above the ground, so the fall wouldn't be fatal. Shadow skidded to avoid injury, Knuckles fell flat on his belly, Nightshade landed in a crouching position and Blaze landed gracefully on both feet.

"Guess it's true; cats always do land on their feet," Nightshade remarked. They then all turned, to see small explosions blossoming across the ship, before it blew up completely. The raging inferno in the sky sent shrapnel of saucer flying all over the surrounding area. Extremely satisfying and entertaining, Nightshade thought.

"Come on, let's get back to the others," Blaze said. They made their way to the main doors which had now been blasted open. As they stepped inside, they saw a group of five Daleks at another set of doors, one of them with a claw rather than the standard 'sucker' the others had and which was cutting at the door. Exterminated robots, dead Daleks, spent bullet cartridges and scorch marks from explosions littered the hallway. Thankfully, there were no bodies from anyone that they knew. Two Daleks, facing away from the door, spotted them and alerted their comrades, who all spun round to face them.

**"SURRENDER, OR BE DESTROYED!" **ordered the claw-armed Dalek. Fire danced in Blaze's palm, Chaos Energy sparked in Shadow's hands, a fist pounded into Knuckles' open hand and there was a snap-hiss as Nightshade's lightsaber ignited.

"You an' what army, pepper shaker?" Nightshade asked, smiling.

**"MANY MORE REINFORCEMENTS ARE AWAITING COMMAND FROM OUR SHIP. YOU ARE OUT-"**

"Save it," Knuckles interrupted. "We've blown your ship sky-high."

"Nightshade, have you got anymore of those EMP grenades?" Shadow asked casually.

"Matter-a fact-" Nightshade whipped one out and threw it at the group, disabling their shields- "I do." They all ran to engage their foes, using their unique methods to destroy the group in about ten seconds, equivalent to about ten rels, Dalek time.

"Open up! It's us!" Knuckles yelled, pounding on the door.

"Let me check," came Eggman's voice from the speakers and a camera descended and passed over them. "Excellent! Come on in!" The doors opened slowly, but they were all through before they opened properly. After reuniting joyously with one another and congratulations and compliments being sent around to all, Knuckles noticed there was someone missing from the group, as did Nightshade.

"Where'd Clanker go? Hidin' from me?"

"Where's Shade?"

Everyone exchanged glances with one another, before Amy stepped forward.

"Knuckles, I'm sorry, but... " She stopped, searching for the right words. "... she got hit."

"What?"

"A Dalek hit her. Full on," Sonic helped, putting his hand on Knuckles' shoulder. "Clanker's treating her, but... we're not sure if she'll..."

"Why didin't you say sooner?" Knuckles shouted. "Where is she, I have to see her."

"I understand Knuckles, but ya may wanna stay when ya hear what I found out," Nightshade said grimly.

"What is it?" Angela asked, her attention grabbed.

"Well, I found the movement routines of the fleet. All of the ships will be moving onto the next closest major population area," Nightshade explained.

_"Well, I could have guessed that," _Ko'skarr remarked.

"All except one. The _Exterminator II. _En route to the next city, it'll veer off to a different destination, one that's been designated the mission priority."

"Where?" Dan asked, wondering what could be more important to the Daleks than complete planetary extermianton. What were Dalek X's intentions? Nightsahde's answer changed that and ended all speculation.

"Angel Island."

* * *

Chapter done. I hope it was enjoyable.

Glacier: WHHHHHHEEEEEEE!

Uh guys...?

Tornado: Bloody sugar overdose!

Taser: I told you not to get her chocolate! It's the worse one!

Glacier: REEEEAAADD ANND REVVIIIIIEEWWW, or I'll STUFF YOU IN THE FREEZER!

*Sighs* I'll get the tranqs...


	7. On To The Island

Well, this going well, I think.

Taser: Isn't this the point where you're doing a few chapters for some different events?

Yes Taser...

Taser: Isn't that going to be a bit confusing?

Glacier: Who cares? Let's get on with it!

Tornado: An apt suggestion, my dear.

Taser: Let's not take the same ill-fated route that Star Wars did...

**On To The Island**

This latest piece of news was a disturbing revelation for everyone**. **The Daleks were greedy and hungry for power. Any advantage, any resource they could get their manipulators onto, they would exploit it to their limit, no matter what it was or how big the risk could be. The fact that they were going after the Master Emerald and, possibly, the other seven Chaos Emeralds was both predictable, because they were highly desirable objects of power and frightening, because of what they could do with that power.

"I shouldn't have left Angel Island," Knuckles was saying, trying his best not to lose his temper. "I should have been there to protect the Master Emerald, I should have been there!"

"Calm yourself, Knuckles," Blaze told him sternly. "What's past is past, you can't go back and change it."

"Blaze is right," Nightshade agreed. "We need ta focus on the here and now and figure out what we're gonna do to stop 'em."

"What about Shade?" asked Knuckles, still keeping his voice low and calm. "Will she be alright?"

"We don't know yet Knuckles," Dan answered somberly. "Very few people can survive a full on Dalek blast, unless their biology or some piece of technology allowed them to. You may need to prepare yourself for the worst case scenario."

"It's your fault she's like this!" Everyone was startled as he yelled and pointed at Dan. "If you had let her go with us instead of stay here with your group, she might be alright!" Dan raised his hands in a neutral manner and stepped toward Knuckles slowly.

"Okay, Knuckles, just remain calm and-" He was cut off as Knuckles' fist collided with his face and sent him flying across the room, slamming him into the wall. Angela shrieked and ran for him, while the other Chosen Ones pulled out their weapons and pointed them at Knuckles.

_"You'd better hope he's alright, you hot tempered fool," _Lu'saa hissed at him. _"If you've injured him in any way, I'll fill you with so much lead, we can sharpen your head and call you a pencil!"_

"He deserved it, if Shade is dead because of him!" Knuckles retorted, as the Wolf shoved his wrist-knives in his face.

_"Is he alright Ang?"_ Ko'skarr asked. Angela had his head in her hands and his eyes were closed.

"Come on, wake up my love," she was saying. At first, there was nothing, then he suddenly sat up, eyes wide and grin wider.

"Oh, one hell of a right-hook!" he shouted and shook his head clear. "Have to watch out for that. Thanks Angie," he said to the Witch, who kissed his cheek and growled at the echidna, who was evidently surprised at his reaction to his punch.

"Hold on," Dan said, raising a hand to his nose, which was dislocated. He grabbed it, breathed in and quickly shoved his nose in its proper place with an audible crack and a grunt of discomfort, followed by a yell of pain.

"Knuckles, why did you do that?" Amy asked angrily. "You could have seriously hurt him."

"Leave him Amy," Dan ordered, rubbing his nose and stepping towards Knuckles. The echidna in question broke out of the weapons circle and raised his fists in a combat stance.

"Come on then, I can fight you! I'm ready!"

"Knuckles," Dan started, kneeling down and looking into his eyes. "I understand how you're feeling. Someone you care deeply about has been injured, perhaps fatally. You're angry, but more than that, you're scared. You're scared that person may not pull through, that she may die and if she does... you can't begin to imagine what you would do without her and you feel so helpless, that you feel there's nothing you can do, but you try to do something to just let it out."

Knuckles looked stunned, to Lu'saa, due to what he smelt like and to what he could feel in his mind, she could tell that her leader's talk was having an effect on him. He had a tendency of being able to have that effect, in the right circumstances. She remembered one time he had helped her with an emotional problem that she'd had, with help from her loving mate, after she'd returned from a dimensional rift, a few of the team's members had fallen through and become separated in and ended up in many different places and times. In her case, she'd returned from a planet called Reach.

There had been a war, a war between humans and a gathering of aliens known as the Covenant. She was told this when she had ended up with the remnant of a team of super-soldiers called SPARTANS, designated Noble Team: Carter, Emile and one who only went by the designation Noble Six. She never learned his real name. She'd gotten to know them well and it was exploring here she found her weapons of choice; M7 caseless sub-machine guns. Carter had sacrificed himself to destroy an enemy vehicle and Emile died fighting what they called Elites. She was saddened by their deaths, as she would for anyone she'd known and liked, but more by the fact that, as she hated to admit it, their cause was a lost one. Reach would fall and there was nothing they could do.

Noble Six volunteered to remain behind and his efforts ensured the destruction of a Covenant battleship and the escape of the _Pillar of Autumn_ from Reach, that contained the Master Chief, one of the last of the SPARTANS and part of humanity's hope for winning the war . There was little chance of survival and the SPARTAN had known it. She had been greatly touched by his sacrifice and felt it was suitable that he had lived up to his teams' name, fighting and dying on the planet that had once been his home.

The rift had opened again on the_ Autumn_, just before the ship went onto it's next destination and as she had looked out of the window and saw Reach being glassed by the Covenant battleships. All of those people, who had lived and fought on that world, were being slaughtered right before her and there was nothing she could do to help them. She prayed for the Ancient Queens to watch over them, to guard the essence of their beings throughout all time, before returning home.

Ko'skarr noticed something was wrong when she had come back through. She was quiet, she had barely said a word and he felt her pain and sadness through their mental link. He had gone to comfort her, as did Dan. She told them of what had happened, what she had seen and, while Ko'skarr comforted her mentally, Dan told her something that made her feel better: During one of the wars on his home world, when enemy forces were bombing the cities in his country, Great Britain, many people were killed by the bombs and many buildings and homes were destroyed. And yet, in the middle of it all, St. Paul's cathedral still stood amid the flames and smoke. Seeing this gave people hope and, far from making them give up, made them want to fight back even more. By helping save the Master Chief and all the people on the _Pillar of Autumn_, she had helped to deliver hope to the people back home and the soldiers on the front line. In times like that, hope could strengthen the human spirit. Even though Reach had been destroyed, humanity would continue the fight and the Chief would be there to lead it, until they had won.

The memory of this still bought a feeling of inspiration and it filled her up inside. Ko'skarr felt this too, across their link and moved a little closer to her, as Dan continued to talk to Knuckles. His hand gripped one of the echidna's shoulders.

"I understand how you feel. But think, would she be wanting you to act like this? Would she want to you to fight people who are trying to help you beat back a deadly enemy? As Cosmo already said, we must be fighting the Daleks and not each other. If we do, we'll be easy pickings for the Daleks. Once we're gone, no one on this planet will be able to stand against them, they will kill every living thing here and, if she is, her death will be for nothing. For her, make it count for something. How about it, eh?"

Knuckles was shaking slightly, a tear ran down his cheek and splashed on the floor.

"Yeah," he said quietly. "You're right, she wouldn't want me like this. I'll fight them, for her."

"Good man!" Dan roared, slapping his shoulder. "That's more like the echidna spirit!"

**"Then allow me to strengthen it," **came the voice of Clanker, who marched towards them from a side door.

"When you say 'strengthen it,' you mean Shade's..." Knuckles tailed off, not wanting to get his hopes up.

**"That is an annoying habit organic life forms have, not finishing your sentences," **Clanker noted. **"Assuming you were going to say 'is Shade alright,' my answer is yes."**

"Really?" Knuckles asked, hardly daring to believe it. "She's fine?"

**"In a manner of speaking, yes she is." **The android let some time for the sighs of relief and cheers to pass before explaining.** "Yes, it seems her battle armor is stronger than the Daleks anticipated. The same function that allows her to drain the energy out of opponents also drained the energy from the blast she took and made it almost harmless. Unfortunately, it took quite a lot of power from her armor to stop and store that beam and that wasn't quite enough to make it completely harmless. The energy that remained still struck her and put her into a coma for at least six hours."**

"But she'll be okay when she wakes up?" Knuckles had to be sure.

**"Too early to say. It may effect her in a small way, we'll find out when she awakens." **Knuckles didn't say anything at this. He turned to look at Dan, who was watching and waiting for his reaction.

"Dan," he started. "I'm sorry I..."

"Think nothing of it Knuckles," he said quickly. "Don't dwell on it. Now then, back to the Daleks and fighting them, I think."

"We need to change our priorities, that much is certain." Angela stroked her chin with her claws thoughtfully. "We need to stop the Daleks getting the Master Emerald and stop the rest of the fleet from attacking the next city. No more innocent lives must be lost."

Before anyone could suggest something, a beeping noise resounded close by. Rouge looked at her wrist to see her communicator with GUN going off. Surprised they were contacting them when they hadn't for a while, she answered it.

"Receiving... yes, this is Agent Rouge... Shadow and Omega are present... why?... what, you are?... that's brilliant!... okay we'll be there, we may bring along some personal backup. Rouge out."

She switched off her communicator and turned to look at them all. "GUN HQ are amassing for a standoff against the Daleks. They're going to intercept the fleet at a designated point between the next city."

"With the technology they possess, they don't stand much chance against them," The Wolf commented cynically.

"Well, we'll send some of us with them and help to shore up their defenses," Dan suggested. "If we can't stop the Daleks, we can at least delay them until the virus is complete and Dalek X is dead.

"Wolf, you go with Rouge, Shadow and Omega to assist the GUN forces. That is, unless you or any of you have any objections otherwise..."

The Wolf shook his head and moved to the members of Team Dark, as did Emerl, Silver, Blaze, Tornado and Taser, a few minutes later, saying and showing that they all wanted to help with the resistance and, quite clearly, the extra help was very welcome.

"Good luck to you all and may you all return safely," Angela said to them, as they were leaving. Before they had completely left, Li'thicka stepped forward from the group and towards the Wolf, stopping about half way.

"Wolf." He turned around and looked at her. She stood there, staring after him. She wanted to say somthing to him, but her mind was blank. In the end, she just came out with; "Take care." The Wolf seemed a little surprised, but he gave her a smile. Then, he walked up to her, leaned in close and whispered something in her ear. A smile grew on her face too and she nodded happily, as he left with the group again, but not before raising his head up to the sky and letting out a billowing roar, Li'thicka mimicking him, the roar of a Yautja mingling with the screech of Kainde Amedha, both of them uttering Nan-de Than gaun: The Kiss of Midnight, no mercy to be shown to their enemies.

Dan stepped towards Li'thicka, evidently to ask what he said, but she turned and, as if she had read his mind, said: "His name." The Chosen Ones were a little shocked. The Wolf had never shared his true name with them, they had simply known him as the Wolf. Li'thicka was the only one who knew it, but he had either asked or ordered her not to tell them, as none of them had managed to pry it out of her. He must have given her permission to say it.

"Sain'ja. It means 'warrior.'" The tone of her voice was full of pride and happiness, as if a great weight had been lifted off of her mind. Dan nodded in a way of understanding, then spun about and clapped his hands together.

"Back to buisness, then. While Clanker, Tails, Nightshade and Eggman stay here and work on getting the virus active, the rest of us will be off to Angel, stop Dalek X, destroy the Dalek fleet and all be home in time for tea."

_"Great, now I'm hungry," _Ko'skarr voiced. Everyone ignored this comment.

"How are we going to get to Angel Island fast enough?" Knuckles asked. "We need to get there before they do, or at least before they get the Master Emerald."

"That, Knuckles, has already been taken into account. Follow me." He strode off and they all made after him. Ko'skarr and Lu'saa ended up leading, due to their fast movements as Xenomorphs and the fact that they were scaling the ceiling and wall. After walking down a cold, steel corridor, with the occasionnal view window, looking out at the lava flows and worker droids, they reached a circular door with the words HANGER BAY above it. They opened automatically, revealing what lay inside.

"Woah!" Tails exclaimed, his face a vision of awe and wonder. "Incredible!"

A large starship was hanging from the roof of the hanger on hooks. It didn't look like it was built though, more like it had been grown. It had a sleek body design, streamlined and smooth and looked like some kind of giant ocean creature, having the graceful look of a stingray and the predatorial appearance of a shark. The top part of the ship was wider than the bottom part, which had a series of different shaped grooves in the underside, eight in total and three thrusters emerging from the rear.

More ships, smaller than this one, were landed on the ground beneath it: a disc-like ship, remniscant of a classic flying saucer design; a ship that looked like four claws pointing forward, the cockpit in the middle; another more organic looking ship, which was wider and less streamlined, with a gun turret set atop it, pulsing and throbbing, as if alive; a smaller, scaled down version of the bigger ship, large enough for one pilot; a needle-like fighter, one thruster and two guns on the side; one that looked like it had an enlarged version Clanker's head as the cockpit, with needle-tipped wings pointing forward and a small, triangle-shaped snub-nosed fighter, coloured blue and a dome-headed droid wired into the wing, whistling and beeping.

_"This," _Ko'skarr started, gesturing expansivley and dramtically at the largest one, _"is the_ Chosen Chariot_, our main flag-ship, transporter and home. We got it from the Wo-" _He stopped at a look from Li'thicka. _"I mean Sain'ja's species as a thank-you prezzie. They didn't let us have every attachment, just enough to get us from point A to point B. Some arnaments, including plasma-cannons, but nothing fancy, a defensive sheild, tough outer hull, cosy rooms and a hyper-jump engine."_

"An incredible piece of engineering!" Eggman yelled. "If only you would let me study it-"

_"Eggy," _Lu'saa said dangerously, _"if you still want to have kids, I suggest you don't finish that sentence. We don't trust technology like this with scumbags like you."_

"That's just our main one," Dan said, taking over, leading them across to the other ships. "We each have our own indidvidual fighters: _The Crown Jewel,_ mine-" He pointed to the saucer one. "- _The Queen's Scepter_, my darling Angela's-" The claw one "-_ The Hive Mind,_ Ko'skarr and Lu'saa's two-seater-" The pulsating one. "- Sain'ja's _The Kv'var-de _or _The Hunter-_" The scaled-down one-"_The Vor'mekta_, _The Stalker_, is Li'thicka's-" The needle-shaped one. -"Clanker's_ The Scar Raider_-" The one built with his head. "-and, last but not least, belonging to Nightshade, _The Peacekeeper_.

"Now then, Glacier, Sonic, Amy, Knuckles, as you're all coming with us to Angel Island, you'll be in the_ Chariot _with Li'thicka piloting. Myself, Angela, Ko'skarr and Lu'saa will be providing fighter escort, in case the Daleks decide to try and shoot us down, along with some airborne robots Eggman will provide. Hopefully, we'll make it there alright, but we will be going past the fleet and trying to catch up to _The Exterminator II, _so there'll be bound to be some resistance."

"Excuse me, sir?" Dan looked to see Cream step forward tentativly towards him. "What about Cosmo and me?" He sighed and kneeled down to her level.

"I'm sorry Cream, but neither you nor Cosmo are combat capable, so you'll both have to stay here. It'll be safe and you'll have Tails to talk to, if you want. I really am sorry, but I'm afraid you'd slow us down..." He trailed off. It was hard to continue, when her young, innocent face showed so much disappointment at being turned down. Eventually, however, she nodded in understanding and went to stand beside Cosmo.

"We should return to our research. We will let you know when it's ready." Clanker turned and lead the base team back through the doors to and from the hanger. Eggman stopped though.

"Wait." He walked towards Sonic and held out his hand. "Sonic, in case neither of us make it back from this, know that you really have been a most formidable and respected opponent. Good luck to you, you annoying blue menace."

Sonic was a little surprised, but he gave a smile and shook Eggman's hand. "Thanks Doc, the feelings mutual, ya big egg-head. See ya, Ro-butt-nick." Eggman returned the smile and went off with the other researchers.

_"Right then!" _Ko'skarr bounded up to them. _"All aboard the _Chariot!_ Next stop, Angel Island! Ding ding!"_ With that, they all made off for their designated positions. The Chosen Chariot detached from the ceiling and hung suspended in the air. The three, smaller fighters rose up next to it and surged forward, as the massive ship glided majestically out of the side of the volcano and onto their next destination.

"God be with them. God be with us all," Tornado said, as his group watched them leave. No one saw any reason to disagree with this wish, but remained silent and continued on their way, torwards either certain death or total glory.

* * *

**"FLEET PRIMED AND READY TO DEPART," **came the report from a lesser Dalek, as the Inquisitor General stood from his command station on the Exterminator II. He had waited a long time for this pivitol moment in his time, this great victory of the Daleks. They would destroy the next city and, with the power of the Master Emerald, they could fufill the rest of their plan, the Daleks would at last take their rightful place as the supreme beings. Not even the Doctor would be able to stop them.

With this power, Dalek X would return to their own universe. He would hunt down the Doctor, he would have his vengeance and he would be known as the greatest being in Dalek history, greater than even the Emperor himself. At last...

**"MAKE FOR THE CITY, MY SHIP WILL PROCEED AS PLANNED."**

**"I OBEY!"** The screen switched off and Dalek X's sensors registered the ship's vibration, as it's powerful engines started up, propelling the ship towards their ultimate power, towards their destiny, torwards their victory.

* * *

In the entrance corridor, where the final moments of Attack Squad Beta 5 had been, they still stood there. Their lifeless, dead machine bodies helped to echo the state of the creatures inside. Everything has it's time and everything dies. Even Daleks. Here they stood, dead and gone, not a sign of movement from any of them.

Then, one of them, the one that Taser had electrocuted, began to twitch. The eye lit up feebly, the gun twisted and the sucker twitched, then it stopped again. Death throes? Last struggles? It moved again, the casing whirring and hissing. The locking mechanism released. The neck parted, as did the gun platform, steam hissing as the metal cage opened. Inside, the creature's tentacles writhed slowly, it's body moved up and down, as if breathing. The eye at the centre of the creature was moving ever so slightly.

Slowly, but surely, like a gate opening to the infernos of Hell, it opened...

* * *

Glacier: *gasps* Oh noes! Why?

Tornado: Ugly little blighters, I'll say that much.

Taser: Are we talking about the Dalek or the readers?

Glacier: *freezes him* Be quiet...

Read and review please, sorry it took a while.


	8. Mechanical Problems

Tornado: I say old chap, why did you call it that?

All in good time, my friend, all in good time.

Glacier: Come on, tell us!

Tornado: Does that Dalek have anything to do with it?

Glacier: Will it be doing sabotage?

Hey, Glacier, someone's messing up your wedding dress.

Glacier: WHAT! *runs off*

Anyway, on we go...

**Mechanical Problems**

"This virus certainly has a very complex DNA coding," Eggman commented, as he looked down the microscope at the sample they possessed. The microbe, in question, was about as active as a corpse. It was a single piece of the DNA, with no host cells to reproduce inside and no activity to do so. It was hard to believe that this small, single microorganism almost caused the total extinction of some of the fiercest beings he had ever met**.**

His mind went back, to the one that he had found, all on its own, almost dying. It had attempted to gain access to his old mountain base and had attracted the attention of his automatic defenses, an electromagnetic pulse that disabled it's electronics, effectively knocking it out. He had his patrols bring it in the base. His attempts to scan it had failed, the casing being heavily shielded and prevented laser, x-ray and infrared scanning. From what they had been able to tell, it was made up of tremendously advanced technology and he, Doctor Ivo Robotnick, made it his priority to activate it.

Then, it had awoken. It had spoken to him. It had said it had been looking for him. It had promised him so much, everything he desired: the chance to replicate it's technology, to conquer the world, to destroy Sonic the Hedgehog. It had been magnificent in battle, Sonic's attacks didn't even scratch it's metal casing, didn't even dent it. Victory was in his grasp. When it was destroyed, he had fled to his volcano base, to try and create a new one from the files he had gained from it.

But the Chosen Ones, Li'thicka to be precise, had followed him there. She had then signaled the others and they had burst in his lab, pinned him to the ground and deleted all the information that the Dalek had given him. They had then explained what it really was and how it had tricked him. The only reason it said that it would help him kill Sonic was so that was one of their primary threats out of the way and dead. After that, it would have killed him too. Then, it would have used his laboratories and production machines to grow and construct an army of Daleks that would be part of the main invasion force that was preparing itself as they spoke.

With his help, they hoped to stop them before they were ready to attack. They had failed. This was his world to conquer! Those tin-plated pepper pots would not get the better of his genius! They would all be destroyed!

"Well, ya know it would be, 'cause it was developed ba an equally advanced robot race," Nightshade commented, bringing him Eggman out of his thoughts, who was nearby, trying to get the virus active. "Wish A'd met 'em, be nice ta have one here ta help."

**"It is extremely difficult to unravel this coding and attempt to restart it's programming," **Clanker agreed, trying to make the virus reproduce artificially, without the use of host cells for the virus to copy their DNA inside of. **"Once it is, however, the rest should be simple. Once the virus attacks the Dalek cells, they'll copy their genetic material inside of them, burst out and move on to the next at an incredible rate, or so I've heard."**

"What about their armor?" Tails asked, poking his head up from the test tubes containing various solutions, compounds and samples, they thought would help**.** The twin-tailed fox's forte was machines, so it was hard for him to have something to do. He was doing his best to help where he could. "I thought you said the bonded polycarbide automatically repairs the damage done to the daleknaium outer shell."

**"It does, but the virus attacks the armor as well. It latches onto the repair molecules and stops them functioning. The casing falls in on itself and the creature inside is unraveled and turned to 'mush.'" **

"What if something goes wrong? If you're wrong, we could start an epidemic if we release the virus," Tails said, with concern and fear in his voice.

"The virus is only partial to Daleks, Tails honey," Nightshade explained. "Once they're dead, the virus'll die too. Kinda sad, if ya think about it. But it's fine, the virus'll spread in high enough numbers to wipe out the Dalek army, then snuff itself out."

Tails was about to voice another concern, like if the virus didn't reproduce fast enough to wipe out the entire Dalek army, when the lights began to flicker. The computer screens, too, began to show static on the monitors. Clanker moved quickly to save the primary files and create backup ones in his memory, in case they turned off completely and the research data they had was lost.

"What the heck?" Nightshade wondered, looking up at the lights. "How in the name-a the Force is that happenin'?"

"Is the power going?" Tails asked.

"Impossible!" Eggman yelled. "This base is powered by the flows of lava, they turn the turbines to provide kinetic energy to be converted to electrical power."

**"He is correct. Unless the molton rock running through this mountain ceased to flow, there is no way the power could be cut... unless..."**

"Someone, or somthin', is cuttin' the power cables and turnin' off power on purpose," Nightshade theorized for Clanker. "That's jus' plain rude!"

No sooner after she said this, an alarm went off. A klaxon blared throughout the lab, the PA announcing there was a breach of security.

"How is that possible? Could this get any worse?" Eggman asked hysterically. Seconds later, the automatic doors in and out slammed shut, the metal descending and cutting off their exit. The PA then announced that a quarantine had been activated and put in place around the labs and no one was allowed in or out.

"Eggy, ya had ta jinx it, didn't ya?"

"What could have happened, did the virus escape?" Tails asked.

**"It is possible, but unlikely. Even if it did, the virus is inactive and would not be identified by the computers as a threat. Something has intentionally activated the quarantine in this area to keep us trapped. The only other two beings here are Cosmo and Cream and they have neither the motive nor the technical understanding to apply it. Whatever did it knows what we are doing here and does not want it to continue. The only logical choice that would be is a..."**

"... a Dalek!" Tails finished. "But, how? The only ones here are dead."

"Never really can be sure with 'em," Nightshade informed. "'Never turn ya back on a dead Dalek,' ol' saying for mos' folks... also 'never eat a badly cooked Kronkburger,' but never mind. The casing may have been busted, but the thing inside can survive outside it for a bit... an' it's still dangerous."

* * *

Cream sat in the small room, looking out of the window overlooking the boiling rock and the slowly turning turbines below. The way it glowed and made the metal shine was rather pretty to look at. There was certainly nothing much better to do in here. Eggman's robots had come for her, Cosmo and Cheese shortly after everyone else had gone and asked them to follow. They had taken them to this room, told them they would be safe here and would be outside if they needed anything. Cream had only nodded. Though the robots were on their side, she still thought they were scary.

She turned away from the window and looked around the room. Cheese was flying near by, chirping away and exploring the room and Cosmo was sitting nearby in deep thought, curled up on the floor and her eyes staring at the wall.

Cream felt kinda sorry for her. Cosmo wasn't a violent person; she didn't like to fight and she disliked other people fighting even less. The Metarex had been bad enough, but the Daleks were even worse. They had killed and hurt so many people and they had almost killed her. Now, because of his work on the virus with the others, Tails, the love of her life, wasn't here to comfort her.

"Why?" The Seedrian's melodious voice bought Cream back to the world. "Why are they like this?"

"The Daleks?"

She nodded. "I thought the Metarex were bad, but they... they are evil beyond comprehension..."

Cream said nothing. She couldn't answer her question, nor did she want to. She didn't even want to think about the Daleks, about what they did to her. They hadn't cared how old she was, whether she was a boy or a girl, whether if she asked, even begged them not to hurt her. They still had. It still hurt. They didn't have a reason for it... it was like they just wanted to hurt her because she was there... because she was different to them.

She rubbed the spot where a Dalek with a scary claw instead of a sink plunger had burnt her and another wound where another claw Dalek had shocked her with electricity. When she screamed out why they were doing this, one of them, the black and gold one who looked like he was in charge had said 'because he wished to.' They still stung. She could still hear their grating, evil voices echoing in her head. She began to cry, tears cascading down her face. Cosmo saw her and came over to comfort her.

"Cream, what is it?"

"I-i-i-it s-s-still h-h-hurts..." She showed her the burns and an audible gasp emanated from the Seedrian. She tentatively reached out and touched one, Cream squealing in pain from the contact and she drew her hand away quickly, stammering an apology. "They b-b-b-burnt me, they sh-sh-shocked me FOR NO REASON!" She screamed out the last part and cried even harder, flinging herself at Cosmo, wrapping her arms around her friend.

"Cream..." She paused. She couldn't think of what to say to the poor rabbit. She had suffered so much at the hands of their enemy. She would need help to cope with her pain and fear after this was over... if it would ever be over. "I'm so sorry. Truly, I am."

That seemed to be enough to comfort her for now. She gave a little smile, though her eyes were still glistening with tears. Cheese floated over, chirping anxiously at her and giving her the Chao equivalent of a small hug, unable to wrap his arms around her due to their small size. Cream, now in the presence of her friends, began to feel better.

Then, the lights started to flicker...

"Now, what do you suppose is causing that?" Cosmo asked rhetorically to Cream, who shrugged. Cheese, however, began to chirp frantically, flying around and hiding behind them. The doors opened and the robots on guard outside trooped inside, weapons at the ready. Had Eggman betrayed them and sent them to kill the three of them? Well, if he did, Cream knew how to fight robots, at least. She was about to order Cheese to attack them, when one of them spoke.

"APOLOGIES TO YOU, WE WERE ORDERED TO PROTECT YOU IF THERE WAS ANYTHING UNUSUAL HAPPENING," it explained, kneeling down and checking them, before standing back beside its comrade.

"Oh... I thought you were..." she started to speak, but lapsed into embarrassed silence. The robot waved away at what she was going to say, nodding in understanding.

"DO NOT FRET, MISS CREAM. THERE IS A 95.8634219 PERCENT CHANCE I WOULD HAVE REACTED IN THE SAME FASHION, UNLESS I HAD BEEN PROGRAMMED NOT TO..."

Then, an alarm began sounding, an announcement saying there was a breach in security and metal doors closing and locking them in. Both Cream and Cosmo screamed in shock and Cream became even more distressed, but the robots remained impassive. One of them turned to the trio, while the second marched to the door.

"DO NOT WORRY. IN THE EVENT OF A SECURITY BREACH, ALL AREAS IN THE BASE GO INTO LOCK-DOWN IN ORDER TO TRAP THEM. SECURITY TEAMS ARE THEN DISPATCHED AND SEARCH EACH ROOM ONE BY ONE, PLACING SENTRIES OUTSIDE EVERY CHECKED ROOM UNTIL THE INTRUDER OR INTRUDERS ARE FOUND AND NEUTRALIZED. WE KNOW THE OVERRIDE CODES FOR THE DOORS, SO WE WILL BE ABLE TO OPEN IT."

"THAT IS A NEGATIVE ON THE OVERRIDE CODE," the other reported, "I HAVE ATTEMPTED TO ENTER IT AND WILL NOT ACCEPT IT. ALTERNATIVE SOLUTION: WE USE FORCE TO LEAVE THIS ROOM."

"AGREED," responded the first one, equipping its missile launcher. Although there was no visible difference between the two, Cream noticed that the first one had a deeper voice than the other one, so she could tell which one was talking when they did. The deeper-voiced one turned to them again. "ADVICE: YOU MAY WISH TO COVER YOUR AUDITORY RECEIVERS, YOUR EARS," it added, to avoid confusion. The two then raised their weapons and fired at the same time, blasting the metal away and providing them with an exit. The higher-voiced robot robot left the room first, checking the corridor, before bleeping twice.

"CORRIDOR CLEAR," it reported.

"What will we do?" Cosmo asked them.

"WE WILL HEAD FOR THE MAIN LABORATORY AND LEAVE YOU IN THE CARE OF YOUR FRIENDS. MYSELF AND MY COUNTERPART WILL THEN LEAVE AND ATTEMPT TO FIND THE INTRUDER. FOLLOW ME AND STAY CLOSE." The three nodded and slowly followed the robot, the automaton moving just as slowly, his counterpart scouting the corridors ahead. As they were heading to a corner, Cosmo asked the deeper-voiced robot something:

"What are your names, your designations?" The android seemed a little puzzled and a little surprised at her request, but answered anyway.

"MY DESIGNATION IS GAMMA-42, MY COUNTERPART IS BETA-64. WE WERE ASSEMBLED AND ACTIVATED ON JULY TWENTY-FIRST 2010 AND ARE 'SECURITY' CLASS BATTLE ANDROIDS." He paused. "WHY DO YOU ASK, IF YOU DO NOT MIND MY ASKING?"

Cosmo shrugged. "I just want to know who I'm talking to and what I should call you, if we need you." Cream, however was thinking about something else.

The robot's designation reminded her of a story that Amy told her about another robot that she had met that had almost the same name as one of their guards: E-102 Gamma, one of Eggman's E-Series robots, like Omega. He had worked for Eggman, as one of his elite robots. He had been their enemy, doing his evil master's bidding... until Amy taught him about the values of friendship and told him to free himself from Eggman's influence.

He did. He saw Amy, Sonic and his fellow E-Series as friends and Eggman as his enemy. He began a quest to free his brothers from their robotic shells, to free the small animals inside that powered them. He was successful in his mission, he freed the others from their confinements and, after being seriously wounded by E-101 Beta, himself, joining the bird that had flown out of Beta when he had been beaten. Now, here was a robot called Gamma, protecting them, maybe even being their friend.

Cream couldn't help but giggle at that, her mind wandering at a time like this, because a robot's name had reminded her of something Amy had told her. She then sighed. She wished Amy was here. She would be glad to have her bouncy personality to cheer her up. Cosmo was good company, but she was a little timid at trying anything new in case no one liked or no one thought it was funny. She was nice to talk though. And, of course, having Cheese was welcome company, but at this point, she was worried about him and he wasn't being much of a comfort.

Cream could feel him, shivering in fear as he clung behind her, still making scared chirping noises. She had never seen him like this before. Did he know something that the rest of them didn't, was there something in this base that was enough to make him so terrified for them? Was it a Dalek? No, it couldn't be, it just couldn't! Not in here, not in probably the only place that was safe for her and her friends!

"HALT!" The voice of Beta echoed at them. "MOTION DETECTOR HAS BEEN TRIPPED. RANGE: 20 METERS AROUND THE RIGHT-HAND CORRIDOR."

"W-w-what is it?" Cream asked, fearfully.

"UNKNOWN. UNABLE TO CLARIFY WITHOUT VISUAL DATA. I WILL SCOUT THE AREA AHEAD AND REPORT ANY ACTIVITY I FIND." Without another word, he moved off to the corner, rounded it and they listened to his footsteps fading away.

"Now... we wait?" Cosmo looked up at Gamma, to see if he would say otherwise. He nodded, just as the lights flickered again, then went out completely.

"C-Cosmo..." Cream clung tightly to her friend, "I'm s-s-scared..."

"Don't worry, Cream," she said soothingly, stroking the back of her head, "we're going to be alright, I promise..." She seemed unsure of her words as she said them.

"DO YOU WISH TO VIEW HIS PROGRESS? I AM ABLE TO PULL UP A SCREEN TO SHOW WHERE IN RELATION TO US." He crossed over to a screen fixed into the wall, pulled out a black wire from the back of his head and inserted it into a slot on the imager.

"I HAVE LINKED MINE AND HIS TRANSPONDER SIGNAL INTO THE SCHEMATICS OF THE BASE SO THAT WE CAN SEE HIS POSITION IN RELATION TO OURS," he explained to them, as a birds'-eye-view of the base was displayed on-screen. Two lights appeared on the corridor being shown; one was standing close to a corridor wall, the other was moving down the maze of passage ways, pausing at each corner, then moving on again.

"Is that Beta?" Cream asked, pointing at the moving one. She was glad to have something to take her mind off things, even if it was for a little bit.

"AFFIRMATIVE. THAT IS HIS TRANSPONDER SIGNAL. THE STATIONARY SIGNAL IS ME AND, TO AN EXTENT, YOU THREE. HE IS PROCEEDING THROUGH THE GENERATOR SECTION, THE MAIN POWER SOURCE FOR THE BASE. THAT IS WHERE THE HEAT AND KINETIC ENERGY FROM THE MAGMA FLOWS ARE CONVERTED TO ELECTRICAL ENERGY."

Cream tilted her head at the robot. She didn't know about any of that stuff and she didn't really want to. The power came from the lava... so why had the lights gone out? It wasn't possible that it had stopped flowing. It was like a thunder storm, you can't stop it from happening. Nature made it happen. She voiced this concern to Gamma.

"AN EXCELLENT POINT, MISS CREAM," he complimented her and returned his attention to the screen, though he was still talking. "UNLESS, AS YOU SAY, THE MAGMA FLOWS HAVE STOPPED, IT IS IMPOSSIBLE FOR THIS BASE TO SUFFER POWER SHORTAGES. THE FLOWS MAY SLOW DOWN, BUT THE BACKUP GENERATORS WOULD COMPENSATE FOR THE LOSS OF POWER."

"What if something is making it happen?" Cosmo theorized. "Something could be making the power cut."

"SABOTAGE?" The robot's tone seemed to take this possibility as unlikely. "THAT SEEMS TO BE THE ONLY LOGICAL ALTERNATIVE TO THIS... BUT FROM WHAT?"

No-one answered this question. They all had a possible answer, but they either were too scared to voice it or thought it unlikely that it would be what they suspected. Then, they heard rapid gunfire echoing through the corridors. Beta's transponder light on the monitor was flashing rapidly and moving back down the passage. Unfortunately, they couldn't see who or what the android was shooting at, but that was about to be solved by Gamma.

"ESTABLISHING VISUAL LINK," he informed them. The image on the screen changed to a shaky colour image, like looking through a video recorder. Various numbers and letters scrolled in corners of the screen and the barrel of a gun flashed, pointing back up the corridor and giving temporary bursts of light for a second. The image stopped and lowered, as if Beta was kneeling or crouching, two guns now showing on the left and right edges of the live feed.

"What's he doing?" Cosmo asked Gamma, who was watching the footage intently.

"ENTERING A COMBAT-ABLE STANCE TO EFFECTIVELY IDENTIFY AND COMBAT THE THREAT." They all returned their attention to the image. Beta still hadn't moved, both of his weapons were still trained on the corridor. They couldn't see what the danger was or what it might be. They all stood in silence, mirroring the activity of Gamma's counterpart. They all waited to see what had caused the robot to open fire. To see if they had a chance of fighting it if he didn't succeed. To see if it wasn't what they were all dreading...

Suddenly, image jerked upwards. The word 'danger' appeared in red capital letters on the screen. It whirled around, facing the opposite end, weapons firing randomly, bullets ricocheting off the walls. It was rather eerie, hearing the sounds in perfect audio here and also hearing it echoing down towards them. Then, a sudden twist of motion caused the image to blur... then static. A flat, emotionless voice told them the visual link had been lost. The last of the gunshots echoed down the hall... then silence.

"W-what happened?" Cream asked Gamma. The security droid was trying to get a radio contact.

"BETA-64, THIS IS GAMMA-42. STATE YOUR CURRENT SITUATION AND FUNCTIONAL STATUS." Static was his answer. "BETA-64, REPORT YOUR FUNCTIONAL STATUS." More static. "RESPOND TO THIS TRANSMISSION IMMEDIATELY." His efforts proved fruitless. He cocked his weapons and turned to Cream, Cosmo and Cheese.

"WE WILL GO AND INVESTIGATE. I WILL ADVANCE FIRST AND YOU THREE REMAIN CLOSE TO ME AND BEHIND ME AT ALL TIMES, UNLESS I SAY OTHERWISE. IF AT ANY POINT YOUR SAFETY SEEMS COMPROMISED, FOR EXAMPLE, IF I AM DESTROYED OR ATTACKED, THEN DO NOT ATTEMPT TO ASSIST ME. SAVE YOURSELVES AND RUN. I WAS TOLD TO MAKE SURE YOU WILL BE SAFE AND I WISH TO FULFILL THAT MUCH. IS THAT CLEAR?"

They all nodded. "You mean, you would die to protect us?" Cosmo asked, as if to be sure.

"THOSE ARE MY ORDERS, IF NECESSARY." He paused. "EVEN IF THEY WERE NOT, I STILL WOULD. EVEN MACHINES MUST HAVE SOMETHING WORTH DYING FOR..." He trailed off and turned away. Before he could finish turning, Cream walked up and gave his legs a hug.

"Thank you, Mr Gamma..." He seemed a little surprised by the gesture, but he knelt down and gave her a proper hug.

"YOU ARE WELCOME, MISS CREAM," he replied, before standing up and marching at quick pace down the corridors, Cosmo, Cream and Cheese following close behind.

"That was kind of you, Cream," Cosmo commented, as they turned left at the junction ahead.

She gave a small giggle. "I thought it might be nice to give him a little appreciation. He probably doesn't get any from Eggman."

"He probably doesn't expect any either," Cosmo pointed out, "he is just a robot after all. Not that makes him any less of a being," she said quickly from Cream's hardened expression, "but he's not like Emerl. He has a simple purpose and is programmed to obey orders from his master. But..."

"But he also said that he would save us even if wasn't told to. Doesn't that make him more than a robot? A better one?"

Cosmo didn't answer. Tails had taught her a lot about machines and robots since she came back. Maybe that his sentence was just part of a social subroutine, to make her feel more comfortable and liked by a supposedly unfeeling machine. But Gamma was a security droid, designed to do just that: provide security and protection for Eggman and his stronghold. Why would it have such subroutines if it... if he didn't need them? Was it just a genuine bit in of emotion in his programming?

Cosmo couldn't think of a reasonable answer for this, no matter how much she thought about it. She left her speculations and returned to reality, back to the cold, echoing corridors of Dr Eggman's volcano base. She kept her arm around Cream's shoulder and held her close. She knew that she needed comfort.

"Any sign of Beta?" she asked their leader.

"NEGATIVE ON VISUAL CONTACT," he told them, "THERE IS NO SIGN OF CONFLICT OR WHAT MIGHT HAVE CAUSED IT EITHER." As they turned right, then left again, signs of the conflict began to show: the metal walls were dotted with bullet holes here and there and spent cartridges littered the floor. Then, a little further up, they found Beta.

He was lying in a metal heap on the floor. His body was still mostly intact, although it was quite clear that he had been deactivated or attacked. The back of his neck had been opened up and numerous wires had been torn out, but that wasn't what caught their attention. On this area of exposed wires was a strange, sticky slime-like substance. It covered an area of his back, the tips of the wires was coated in it and a trail of it was leaving the body.

Cosmo walked up carefully to the body of Beta-64, kneeling down and examining it. It seemed as if the pulling of wires was a random and panicked attempt to deactivate it, but she could tell, thanks to Tails' teachings, that whoever or whatever had attacked him knew what they were doing. The linkages had been removed from powering the arms and legs and for powering the rest of the body from the generator in his head. The slime that coated it also shorted out the wires, making it almost beyond repair.

She stood and reported this to Gamma, who then made his own analysis of the body and confirmed her report. She couldn't tell if he was affected by the fate of his 'brother', but that wasn't important right now.

"What do you think did this?" she asked him.

"I DO NOT HAVE ENOUGH DATA TO CORRELATE A POSSIBLE ANSWER. THIS TRAIL OF VISCOUS MATTER LEADS INTO THE VENTILATION SYSTEM. WHATEVER DID THIS MAY STILL BE WATCHING US OR HAS ALREADY MOVED ON. BEFORE WE DISCOVER THAT, WE MUST CHECK THE GENERATOR ROOM AND SEE IF ANYTHING IN THERE IS CAUSING THE LOSS OF POWER THROUGHOUT THE BASE."

"Right. Come on Cream..." She held out her hand and the young rabbit took it, once again putting her arm around her shoulder, holding her close and soothing her. Cheese too remained close to his friend, still chirping nervously. They once again had to cover their ears, as Gamma fired an explosive warhead at the door. It wasn't as powerful as the one he and Beta used on the first door, as they couldn't risk damaging the generators. It made a plate-sized hole in the middle, which they used to slide open the door.

Gamma entered first, his weapon sweeping across the room, checking every shadow and every corner, making sure the room was empty.

"AREA CLEAR," he reported after a few seconds and beckoned them inside.

The generator room was large. This was because the generator itself was just as big. It was a large turbine, a cylindrical shape, with grills at either end, through which yellow lights were visible. The bottom part was exposed, large metal wedges emerging from underneath and into a magma flow beneath the metal behemoth. Numerous cables, presumably from the other power turbines scattered throughout the base, lead into the main generator and other, blue cables attached to the floor and going off into the walls, provided the base with power.

At the opposite end of the room, there was a control station, with a monitor screen that displayed the power levels to different sections of the base. These were in the form of red bars. Most of them were empty. More of the same slime that disgraced Beta's body covered the controls and switches of the station. Whatever it was that attacked the other robot had clearly tampered with the controls for the power.

"Well, we know now," Cosmo commented. "It seems I was right: something has caused the power failures to happen. This was deliberate."

"But..." Cream seemed almost terrified to say anything and looked like she had to muster up a great amount of courage just to speak, "but, what did this? What?"

"What if it was..." The Seedrian started, then fell silent. "No, it sounds stupid."

"PLEASE, CONTINUE," urged Gamma, "MY SOFTWARE IS LIMITED AND RELIES ON LOGIC AND FACT. YOUR IMAGINATION MAY PROVIDE A SENSIBLE SUGGESTION OR THEORY. PLEASE..."

Cosmo was a little taken aback from this encouragement, but smiled and went on. "Well, the Daleks, Dan said they weren't just machines. They have a creature inside them that controls the robotic part of it. I'm just thinking, what if from the Daleks that attacked us, what if one of them survived? What if the machine part of it was too badly damaged, but the creature inside wasn't? Maybe the creature inside can move around outside the confines of the life support."

"YES, THAT IS HIGHLY LIKELY. THAT WOULD EXPLAIN HOW THESE OPERATIONS WERE CARRIED OUT WITH TECHNOLOGICAL KNOWLEDGE AND SKILL. IT WAS ABLE TO CUT OFF THE POWER SOURCE FROM A BATTLE ANDROID AND SWITCH OFF THE GENERATOR TO STOP IT PROVIDING POWER TO THE BASE IN AN EFFORT TO KILL US."

"It would do all that... just to kill us?" Cream looked absolutely terrified at the thought. They probably all were, except Gamma. The fanatical desire to fulfill the supposed destiny of the Daleks, so single-minded, so dedicated, that it was willing to destroy this whole base to kill just about a dozen people. The mere concept of it was... terrifying.

"THERE IS ONE BRIGHT SIDE," said Gamma, his weapons being primed, "IN SUCH A STATE, THIS DALEK WILL BE EASIER TO ELIMINATE."

"Shouldn't we turn the generator back on first?" asked Cosmo.

"YES, GOOD POINT MISS COSMO." The robot marched to the monitor and metal fingers danced across the controls. The lights began to flicker again, the red bars filled up on the screen and the turbines began to spin again. The power was coming back on.

Then, something dropped from the ceiling onto Gamma's back. He stood up and spun around, attempting to locate it. Sparking noises were heard, ripping sounds were made, Gamma began to jerk and swung around in spastic flailing. His weapons went off randomly now and until, eventually... he fell. The horizontal slit with a blue light that served as his eye went out slowly.

"WARNING: POWER SOURCE FAAAAAAIIIIIILLLL..." His metal voice became a slow slur and he stopped moving completely. Gamma-42 was dead. And his killer rose into view, slithering out behind his back, the wires still sparking.

It was hideous. If the Dalek casing was scary, the creature inside was a true nightmare. The tentacles waved menacingly at them, slime dripped off from the tips and deep-set, yellow eye burned with an unquenchable hatred, glowing like the fires of hell. Pale-ish green, almost white, like a skull... like Death itself. And it was here to take them.

**"YOU..." **A croak sounded from inside it, like it was having trouble speaking. **"YOU... WILL BE... EXTERMINATED!"**

"No!" Cream screamed and shoved Cosmo out of the way as it leaped, landing with a wet smack on the metal floor. They turned as it did, using it's many tentacles to move itself around.

"Run!" Cosmo yelled, gripping Cream's hand and pulling her away from the grotesque monstrosity that was pulling itself towards them, gurgling and croaking. They ran to the door and down the corridor as fast as they could. They were fast, but the mutant was relentless, remaining hot on their heels.

They ran to the end of the corridor, turned left, ran down the passage there... and were met with a wall. Two doors were either side of it, they desperately tried to get them open, but they refused the budge, stubbornly remaining shut. The three tried to find another way to escape, anything to escape the nightmare that was making its way closer to them. There was none.

"What do we do?" asked Cream, sounding and looking terrified. Cream was matching her, his chirping even more panicked and latching on with his little arms around Cream, she also holding tightly to her Chao companion.

Cosmo didn't answer, because she couldn't. She just couldn't believe that this is how it would end. She had been into the deepest reaches of space, seen so many different worlds, survived the Metarex, found love and made wonderful friends. Now, here is where it would finish: in a cold, cruel, metal base, holding onto her best friend and about to be killed by what remained by one of the most evil beings she had ever met. Well, she wouldn't go out scared and crying. She gripped Cream's hand and stood up, expression hardened and her eyes staring at her fate.

"Don't worry, Cream. I'm here and we'll face this... together." She looked at the young rabbit and gave her a smile. She still looked scared, her eyes were wide, but she weakly returned it and gazed down the corridor. The Dalek mutant creeped steadily closer, slithering and sliding. They didn't know what it could do in this state, but they both tried not to think about. It bared its tentacles and was about to leap...

"Hey, stinky an' slimy," a Redneck accent addressed the mutant, making it turn. A snap-hiss and a humming noise accompanied the line of blue light that had appeared, held by Nightshade the T-X, as she raised her lightsaber, "try this one on for size!"

Before the Dalek could react, she sped forward, lifting it in the air with the Force and bringing the blade down on it, slicing it down the middle. The two separate halves of the Dalek hit the floor, smoking and accompanied with a smell like burning rubbish.

"Now, that's jus' nasty!" She grimaced and deactivated her weapon, placing it on her waist. "Oh, you poor lil' things, y'all musta been terrified." She knelt down and gave Cream a much-needed hug, like one a mother would give... if a little colder.

"But, how did you know where we were? Where are the others?" Cosmo still couldn't believe their luck.

"Well, we managed ta get the door open. A sensed that you two were in danger from somethin', so I ran as fast A could. Good thing A did, the mutant can give a pretty nasty bite. What happened to your two guards?"

"They're... gone..." Cream told her sadly, feeling sad that Gamma was dead and unable to be repaired. Nightshade smiled, seeming to sympathize with her.

"It's okay, hon," she said reassuringly, "they were good robots. A'm sure they did all they could to protect ya."

Cosmo sighed and sat dejectedly. "But now, we've interrupted the experiments with the virus. It'll probably never get done now..."

"Dontcha go blamin' yourself, Cosmo," snapped Nightshade, though her tone lightened, "it ain't your fault. Besides..." She crossed to the wall and picked up the tangled mess that was the Dalek and gave a knowing smile, her eyes sparkling, "we need Dalek tissue to work with... an' we jus' so happen to have some now..."

"You mean...?" Cosmo hardly dared to ask. Nightshade smiled even brighter.

"We might jus' get this virus done. Come on, you three are comin' back ta the labs with me. This may get done a lot quicker than we firs' thought." And, on that high note, she grabbed the other half and they made their way to the laboratory at a quick pace. One way or another, this virus was going to be made active and, when it was, the Daleks would be going down. Hard.

* * *

Well, that was fun...

Glacier: Ew, Dalek mutant slime is sticky and smelly!

You're back pretty quickly...

Glacier: Yep! Found who was messing with my dress!

Tornado: But, there was no-

Taser: *is frozen in a block of ice*

Tornado: Oh...

Missy, you and I need to have a talk.

Tornado: Read and review, if you will please. Much appreciated!

Just so you know, my writing may become hampered by school work. I will try my best. Thanks for your patience everyone!


	9. Hold Them Back

Tornado: I can't help but notice I haven't had much of a role so far in the story or these little segments...

Oh, I'm sorry pal. Don't worry, I'll make it up to you in this chapter.

Tornado: Thanks, old sport. I knew you wouldn't let me down.

Taser: Can you control Glacier? She keeps freezing me!

Well, I would...

Taser: Come on!

Fine, if she tries again, I'll do something.

Tornado: Right then, on with this riveting tale...

**Hold Them Back**

"Why aren't you listening to me? Why did you bring me in here if you won't listen to me?" Sain'ja was a Yautja. Yautja had very violent tempers. He had learned and tried very hard to control his. But the Commander, as that was all this ooman allowed him to address him as (fitting really: he wouldn't tell him his true name and Sain'ja wouldn't tell him his), was beginning to try his patience.

"We have all our soldiers, all our weapons in this one spot," the GUN leader told Sain'ja confidently," we have tanks, SAM launchers, AA guns, mechs and robots and the entire compliment of the Guardian Units of the Nation. I think we're more than a match for those monsters. They're all going down here! We don't need your help!"

"I am telling you, you don't know what you're dealing with!" Sain'ja roared at him. "There was an incident on another planet, like this one, where a Dalek escaped. One, single Dalek and it killed 200 people, all because they didn't know how to fight it! I have knowledge about them that is vital to this fight. Unless you want to see all of those men out there dead, you will listen to me!"

"We have taken every precaution and every battle strategy into account. The United Federation will not fall to these devils from the stars!"

"They are from another dimension and you _will_ fall, unless you listen to what I need to tell you!"

"I don't need to listen to you because they will be stopped here and now!"

"You will be the ones who will be stopped! They sweep aside your 'army' like cobwebs and they will kill every last man, woman and child in that city! Do you know what happened at Soleana? Do you want that to happen here?"

The Commander's hard look seemed to falter. Then, he finally sighed and shook his head. "I read the report... about what they did in Soleana... I saw the broadcast from their leader... the death of Elise... I won't let it happen here..."

Sain'ja suddenly felt pity for the ooman. So many were relying on him, so much responsibility and high expectations. Knowing that he failed in his duty, to protect the people of this city, would be worse than dying. The Wolf understood this, for Yautja had much the same ideology.

When or if defeated in a hunt, most, if not all Hunters would activate the self-destruct inbuilt into their wrist devices. This was mainly so primitive cultures wouldn't find and disassemble their technology, but also in the hopes that they would take their killer with them. To die was better than to suffer the shame and dishonor of defeat. No songs were sung of those who turned and ran from the Black Warrior.

Even though he knew the ooman wouldn't be able to tell if he was, Sain'ja smiled at him, walked up and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Then let me... let us help you. Emerl, tell him what you have learned." The golden robot nodded and stepped forward.

"I can successfully recreate the energy of a Dalek disruptor beam," he informed him, demonstrating by firing off a shot into the corner of the room. Alerted by the sound, a young soldier on duty outside rushed inside and checked around, thinking a Dalek had infiltrated the camp and had attacked. Seeing there was none, he stammered an apology and started to leave.

"Stop." The Emerl's voice made him turn around and stand at attention. "Well done, kid. That was some good reflexes and you recognized the sound of a Dalek weapon."

The young man was taken aback, but smiled a little and saluted. "Thank you, sir. I remember it from the broadcast of the Queen's execution sir."

"I think we all do..."

"Sir, if it's any consolation, I swear I will make sure we avenge what they've done, sir!" He seemed pretty sincere when he said that and it made the Gizoid smile inwardly at his spirit. Hopefully, that would be something the Daleks would find tough to break.

"What's your name?"

"Sir, Private William Jenkins, sir."

"Keep up the good work, Private. Dismissed." Jenkins saluted again and left. Emerl turned back and clapped the Commander on the back. "You got some good soldiers here, sir. I think we're gonna be alright in this fight."

"Um... thank you, Emerl," The Commander said bemusedly. "Now then... what were you saying?"

"Oh yeah!" The Gizoid returned to the matter at hand. "Now then, I can recreate the beam, but they can adjust their sheilds to it, once one of them uploads defence protocols to the others. I notice that you guys have some experimental energy weapons. You may wanna use those and when you do, for your projectile weapons and energy weapons, go for the eye. That's their weak spot. Try and use high explosives too, that should crack open the casings."

"And if those don't work?" asked the Commander, skeptically.

"Then try whatever you think might work. We only need to hold them back for long enough for a weapon we're developing to be fully ready to use."

"And what will this 'weapon' do?" The Commander still looked cynical about the prospect. This time, it was Sain'ja who answered him.

"You shall see, my friend. You shall see..."

* * *

Blaze looked out at the gathered army before them and felt herself despairing. She had seen all the destruction, the chaos and the pain the Daleks had caused first hand. She had seen the buildings in flames, heard the people screaming as the whine of a Dalek weapon ended their lives. The fact that it was going to happen here, again, and she would once again have to listen to those screams was almost inconceivable.

The princess couldn't help but think how hopeless and futile this fight seemed. They had barely stood a chance against the hate-filled cyborgs when they had first attacked and she couldn't imagine how they, even with these numbers, they could have any hope of beating the Daleks.

She tore her gaze from the mass of soldiers and weapons and over to the white hedgehog standing not too far off, looking out at the urban mass they were defending. Silver seemed to be deep in thought, but he was always prepared to drop whatever he was doing in order to help her or spend time with her if she wished it. She didn't demand him to do it, even if she tried to say otherwise, he would still insist. She smiled at this and walked beside him.

Seeing her there, he smiled too.

"Hey Blaze. I was just... thinking..." He was never good at hiding his emotions and she could tell he was troubled. She placed a hand on his shoulder.

"What's on your mind?" Silver opened his mouth, perhaps about to deny anything was wrong. He then seemed to realize that it was futile and gave a sigh.

"Well... I'm just wondering... what do you think our chances are?" She was a little spooked that her boyfriend was thinking about the same thing she was. Maybe he had read her thoughts, saw what she was thinking and talk about it to try and put her mind at ease. He did that sometimes. It was a little rude how he could just look at her private wanderings as if he were reading a book, but it was rather sweet how he talked to her about it.

"I mean, we have a small chance of beating them indefinitely until the virus is made? We can still hold off the Daleks with what we have, right?" Silver sounded so hopeful and sure of himself, but his eyes showed doubt.

"You're so naive," she told him, but smiled, "but I always loved that about you." She gave him a kiss on the cheek, laughing as he blushed from the gesture.

"So um..." he started again, stuttering a little, "uh... what do you think?" She sighed and looked out at the view.

"I can't really say, Silver. I must say that, realistically, our chances for survival are very slim. We barely escaped by the skin of our teeth the first time that we faced off against them, Sonic even got hurt in the fight. Even when we had to take down that Dalek ship, Shade got shot and now she's in a coma. Our adversaries are certainly formidable, to say the very least and that we may not live to see their downfall, if ever there will be one."

"Oh, come on Blaze!" Silver said encouragingly, grabbing her shoulders and looking straight into her eyes. "You make it sound so hopeless... but there is a chance. We blew up a Dalek saucer, we've destroyed more than our fair share of them. We know more about fighting them than we did the first time and we can pass that information to an entire army. I think that we stand more than a chance of holding them off."

"I'm not being hopeless, Silver," she retorted, though she wasn't angry, "I'm being realistic. But... when you say it like that, I guess we do. Thank you, Silver. You always know how to help put my mind at ease, don't you?"

"Yeah... well, it was nothing. I don't want you getting upset before the fight." He always was pretty modest, but he could take a compliment if he was prompted in the right way. To add some 'sugar' to it, she gave him a kiss on the cheek, causing him to blush heavily and stammer.

"I love you, Silver," she purred lovingly, smiling and resting her head on his shoulder. He returned her smile, rested his head on hers and placed his arm around her.

"I love you too, Blaze," he replied, enjoying the feeling as her warmth spread to his whole body from where she held him. He and the lavender cat had been through a lot together, as friends and as lovers. One way or another, they would get through this too. Together.

* * *

"What are you doing? Counting them?" Taser asked Tornado, as he watched the soldiers preparing for battle: filling clips, cocking rifles, charging weapons. He couldn't help but wonder if any of them would hope to survive in the fight against these monsters.

"I wonder what they're all thinking, what are their thoughts straying to," he replied, barely looking up. "Are they excited, itching to fight the good fight or are they terrified, just wanting to spend what maybe their last moments with their loved ones?"

"Why are you thinking about this anyway?"

"Just something to take my mind off things, old chap. It is a rather daunting prospect, having to face off against a fleet of Daleks, you know."

"I hear you there, pal," Taser agreed, "I have been wondering..."

"You never know, really, if you're going to live to see tomorrow. I'm not that worried about my own life, but I'm more concerned about how Amber would cope without me...if I were gone..." He trailed off, clearly uncomfortable to move on.

"I can understand that. Weren't you two supposed to get married?" That made the grey hedgehog blush a little, as a small smile came to his lips.

"Why yes, we were. It's just that both myself and her have been a little... busy," he said simply. Taser chuckled at that, nodding in understanding.

"You two are gonna be great together, I know it... if we survive this," he added unsurly, looking out at the soldiers again. "And we if we don't..."

"Then we'll give them hell trying," the British hedgehog finished confidently. The two hedgehogs now felt as if they could take on the entire Dalek Invasion Force alone, brimming with determination...

And that's when they saw their ships, dozens of them, gliding over the horizon. They were majestic and deadly at the same time, all identical in both appearance and purpose: their destruction.

"Well, old chap. Whatever luck we live by, let's hope it lasts this fight, eh?"

* * *

Alarms flashed, klaxons blared, voices shouted. "The Daleks are here!" "Get to your battlestations!" "Get those guns loaded!" It was now or never, fight or die, win or lose. As the many soldiers headed to defense points, activated mechs and flicked the safetys off of their weapons, Shadow, Rouge and Omega made straight for the frontline, armed and ready to fight.

"Well, it's nice to have a gun for a change," Shadow remarked, loading rounds into the grenade launcher he had acquired. High powered explosives, he remembered, could penetrate the casing of a Dalek.

"Sure, it's fine if you have somthing that can throw the bomb for you," Rouge remarked cheekily, pulling out one of her own bombs, tossing it and catching it as if it were a tennis ball, "but it takes real skill to use one of these."

"I WOULD BE MORE PROFICIENT AT USE OF THE EXPLOSIVE DEVICES THAN YOU, ROUGE," Omega told her factually, his metal feet almost shaking the earth as he moved his heavy body, "AS I WOULD BE ABLE TO CALCULATE WIND RESISTANCE, COMPARING IT TO THE FORM OF THE DEVICE, TO JUDGE THE APPROPRIATE FORCE NEEDED TO-"

"Omega, if I wanted someone telling me how to throw a bomb, I'd have gone back to GUN basic training."

"I WAS MERELY STATING THE OBVIOUS, A TRAIT I HAVE APPEARED TO HAVE PICKED UP FROM YOU ORGANICS. PERHAPS I SHOULD SEE MAINTENANCE AFTER THE BATTLE HAS CONCLUDED."

"Save it you two," Shadow cut across as Rouge opened her mouth to retort, "we need to stay focused. Come on, here's where we're posted." He lead them off to a battalion of soldiers nearest the frontline. They saluted them as they passed, all of them scared, but trying their best not to show it. Shadow could tell.

Although he didn't want to admit it, Shadow was scared too, maybe not as much as them, but he was. He'd seen what just a small number of these creatures could do, seen the destruction they'd caused when they'd raised Soleanna to the ground. Now, they were going up against a whole fleet of these monsters. Whichever way you looked at it, the situation was very bleak.

They had destroyed one ship, back at the base. The flagship had gone off to Angel Island, which left... forty-eight ships still capable of wiping them out in seconds, with the two thousand Daleks aboard each one. Yes, it was very bleak indeed.

"Contacts! Here they come! There's so many of them!" The soldier pointed out across to the ship, where, even from this distance, they could make out hundreds of Daleks, flying towards them on wings of death.

"Alright, this is it everyone!" Shadow raised his weapon. "Remember, stay focused on the group that target us. Good luck."

"Commander, we're ready here," Rouge spoke into her wrist-com, "Yes sir." She tuned to another frequency. "Attention all troops, this is Agent Rouge. Fire at will, I repeat, fire at will."

Seconds passed. Then, a great clap of an explosion sounded from the front line. Three missiles streaked towards the oncoming force, stopping just short of them and detonating, orbs of blue lightning expanding from the points of detonation, before dissapating.

The Daleks that were caught in these orbs also had the same energy flickering around their casings. Some lost control, their heads spinning around in circles rapidly, guns and manipulators whirling wildly, before falling out of the sky and crashing into the ground, their gravity repulsors failing. The others kept on flying, albeit a bit slower than before.

"ELECTRO-MAGNETIC PULSE MISSILES: EFFECTIVE." The E-Series robot primed his missile launchers and fired off a volley, which were immediately joined by several more fired from the rear line.

These weapons, unlike their predecessors, exploded as they hit their targets, engulfing them in blossoms of fire and metal. Also unlike the EMP missiles, they had a significant and spectacular impact: the high powered explosives ripped apart the Daleks they hit, dalekanium and chunks of mutated flesh flew everywhere, metallic, grating screams were cut short as they died.

There were some they had no effect on, merely carbon soot blackened the casings, some had parts of them blown away, a gun, a manipulator or an eye, causing them to be blinded and fire randomly in all directions, hitting their fellows before being gunned down themselves or crashing into the ground like those who had been caught in the bulk of the EMP burst.

"Fire!" Shadow raised his grenade launcher, took aim at a Dalek and fired off a shot. Several more fired with him. They were closer now, making them easier to hit. Shadow's grenade made contact, covering the Dalek in flame... and had almost no effect. It was blackened, dented in some places but otherwise, had no great impact. The eye seemed to shine with contempt as it bought its' gun to bear.

Shadow, a little unnerved, fired again. This time, the round seemed to hit somewhere the firing chamber of the gun. The energy of the weapon combined with the force of the explosion was enough to blow the front off the Dalek from the point of its' weapon, leaving a blackened and charred shell.

Unfortunatley for them, their enemies began to open fire on them. Men and women standing with them were being ruthlessly gunned down, their skeletons aglow as they screamed, their insides scrambled and their brains fried. Their screams didn't scare the Ultimate Lifeform, or even make him despair. They just made him more angry at his enemies.

Loading more rounds into his weapon, he leapt out of his cover and skated towards his foes, weaving in and out of the streams of laser fire. Eye stalks swept up as he jumped above them, slung the launcher onto his back and clawed his hands as they glowed with Chaos energy.

"Chaos SPEAR!" He screamed the last part and sent the spears flying at them, five of them were hit. At the same time, he pulled out his launcher again, their shields down and fired off all six rounds at them all. Two of them were destroyed and three others were crippled; two were blinded and the other lost its gun and a small part of the mutant was exposed.

Shadow felt a pair of hands grip his sides and he was lifted into the air. He looked up to see Rouge smile and wink back at him. He smiled back, reached for her bomb pouch and threw them at the small group, finishing them off for good.

He swung out of her hands and landed feet first on the ground, beside Omega, who was leading a small squad of mechs, marching unrelentingly and firing his machine guns, which had been fitted with bastic-headed bullets. Shadow was about to say something to him, when an explosion went off right in front of him.

All he saw was a white void, a ringing in his ears. He seemed to be moving against a wall, made of earth and dirt, before he realised he was on the ground. He tried to raise his arms, to push himself up but his arms wouldn't respond, nor would his legs. They felt numb, had they been blown off? No, they were still there, they had to be.

He couldn't see the full battle, he saw flashes of it: sqauds of robots firing into groups of Daleks, a mech taking on ten of them, defeating three before combined shots from the others destroyed it, killing the man inside. A man, his weapon empty, began hitting a Dalek with it before being shot. However, he grabbed hold of the his killer, the energy surging through its' body, squaking and screaming, dying.

Aircraft met the Daleks in the skies, firing off volleys of missiles and bullets at them, the Daleks shooting many out of the sky. Soldiers were being massacered, now and again scoring a kill. It seemed so hopeless, such a pointless slaughter. There were too many of them... why bother...

But then he saw Silver, lifting missiles with his mind and sending them at their enemies, Blaze creating a great tornado of fire, carving a path through the waves of Daleks, Emerl giving the pepperpots a taste of their own medicine, recreating their energy beams and firing them, Taser and Tornado working together, combining wind and electricity to destroy their foes and Sain'ja, the great Yautja warrior, sounding off a mighty roar as he fired off balls of blue plasma from the guns on his shoulder, sending spears and discs flying, slicing them in two.

He was being lifted, by two different hands on his arms, one warm and soft, the other cold and metal. Rouge and Omega were helping him to his feet, they were there for him, his friends. They were still fighting, they were here for him.

"SURRENDER, UNACCEPTABLE. FIGHT ON SHADOW."

"We're still here Shads, Team Dark all the way."

"You're right..." He removed the inhibitor rings he kept on his wrists, the Chaos energy surging through him. "We fight... to the bitter end!" With a great field of energy before him, he skated forward, Rouge and Omega beside him. Together.

* * *

Hey everyone! I'm so, so sorry for how this took to post, I've had a lot of stuff going on. Oh well, it's done now right? IT'S DONE AT LAST! If you actually stuck around to read this, then well done to you. I'll try harder in the future. Still got more to come.

Taser: Lazy bum...

What did you say?

Glacier: I think he called you a lazy bum.

Taser: I-I-I mean-

Glacier, I think he needs to be taught a lesson, don't you?

Glacier: *hands becoming cold* I think so too...

Taser: Aw, crap...


End file.
